


Love For You

by i_write_shakespeare_not_disney



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Break Up, Broken Families, Children, F/M, Gen, LGBTQ Character, M/M, Moving On, POV Alternating, Post-Split, Pre-Split, Religion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-09-02
Packaged: 2019-06-18 16:26:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 32,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15489951
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_write_shakespeare_not_disney/pseuds/i_write_shakespeare_not_disney
Summary: Changes come quickly and unexpectedly. Love turns to hate, a full family begins to break, dreams and hopes and promises fall apart.This story is an AU to an existing AU (Beloved), in which I wanted to depict what it was for a family to fall apart and how each person involved deals with it. Alternating between Keith, Lance, and Violet's POVs, this story is meant to express the struggles of losing the person you love and how to deal with a family breaking apart.





	1. Little Do We Know We're Bumper Cars

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Beloved](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12155262) by [i_write_shakespeare_not_disney](https://archiveofourown.org/users/i_write_shakespeare_not_disney/pseuds/i_write_shakespeare_not_disney). 



> This first chapter might be controversial in the religious aspect, however I've noted before that in my writing I like to be realistic, so... I took the most realistic approach I could to a Hispanic Catholic family receiving their son and his husband and alien children! I read all comments, so please give feedback <3

Coming home had been a challenge in and of itself. After years of war and personal trials and strained friendships, being back felt surreal. The Garrison was kind enough to offer them housing and monthly checks that were enough for them each to live comfortably in their own situation after everything they’d done. The paladins were all classified as veterans, and after a few strings getting pulled to get Violet into school the coming school year, everything was peaceful.

Keith and Lance had taken a few weeks to adjust together at home, getting the twins used to the new surrounding as they crawled around the house and letting Violet fascinate herself with the outdoors.

Everything had been fine, if a little rocky because of leftover nightmares of Galrans coming to ruin everything. Then Lance wanted to go see his family. They had come to the bridge they’d talked about before, and now they had to figure out how to cross it.

Lance originally wanted them all to go, to introduce everyone and have a big reunion. But seeing Keith’s nervous reluctance, he thought it back over. In the end it was decided that Lance would go see his family, give himself the time needed to cry and rejoice, and then slowly ease the concept of Keith and the kids onto them.

That had been a bit of a rough patch. Lance told Keith that he’d started off with explaining he was in love with Keith. Then married to Keith. That caused a bit of a riot, with his father mostly who didn’t understand why he had to love another man instead of a woman, especially now that he was back on Earth. Then Lance explained Keith was part alien. That caused another argument about purity or godliness, or something that Keith did his best to tune out and Lance was kind enough to skim over.

Lastly, Lance told them about the kids. Showed them pictures of Violet and Ollie and Charlie. This information had been received with uncertainty, but Lance said that as soon as his Mama had seen pictures of them, she melted and wanted to meet her grandkids. His father still remained distant, hating the fact that Lance was married to a man, that said man had been able to bear children.

And then came the day that Keith and the kids were supposed to meet them.

Keith was nervous. Very nervous, and his hands couldn’t stop shaking. Lance had told Violet she was finally going to meet her _abuelita, abuelito, tios,_ and _tia._ Violet was ecstatic, talking non-stop in the backseat. Charlie and Ollie were strapped into their car seats, and Keith was driving to keep himself calm.

When they arrived, there were faces peeking out the window. Last Lance had seen them, his siblings Veronica, Marco, and Luis had been twelve, ten, and six respectively. Now, Veronica was 22, Marco was 20, and Luis was 16. Veronica was engaged to a boyfriend she’d had since her junior year of high school, she had a degree in psychology, and her boyfriend was a few years older, working as a nurse practitioner. Marco was in his junior year of college for a degree in engineering, and he had a girlfriend of six months, Lance said. Luis was in high school, and he was still hesitant about Lance, like he wasn’t sure he was real after so long.

As they went inside, Lance was immediately engulfed in hugs. His mother peeled away to look at Violet and started shaking with excitement, tears welling in her eyes. She seemed hesitant to get nearer, but anxious too. Violet stepped closer, eyes wide with excitement and wonder.

Violet wrapped her arms around her grandmother, and just like that, her grandmother didn’t care about furry purple ears or the strange biology that allowed her to be. She just knew she had a beautiful granddaughter.

“She looks just like you, _m’ijo,_ ” she cried, holding Violet tightly. Violet was blushing, but she received the affection happily, holding tears at bay herself. “And like you,” Lance’s mother added, looking at Keith. Her gaze was kind, yet wary. She gasped at the sight of the curious babies in the car seats, still not a year old quite yet, but almost. They had both been asleep on the ride and had since woken up, and while Ollie was cooing happily, Charlie was quiet and grumpy. “ _Hola, tesoritos bellos! Soy tu abuelita,_ ” she said, tickling their stomachs. Keith smiled and offered to get them out for her to hold.

As he unstrapped them, Lance sat down with Violet who was looking on quietly, shyly, and nervously tugging at her ears. His siblings came in, looking at the children and at Keith curiously.

Veronica came and quickly scooped Oliver up into her arms, blowing raspberries into his stomach. His mother-in-law, Lorena, took Charlie and started making little faces at him, practically beaming from ear to ear.

Then she touched his furry, lilac ears and chuckled as Charlie cooed at that. “So… this is from you?” she asked, looking up at Keith.

He gulped and nodded. “The genes that allowed me to get pregnant with them made the alien traits more dominant in them. So… they all have the purple ears… and purple eyes for Violet, white hair for Charlie, and a purple birthmark for Ollie.”

“No way, purple?” Veronica asked, looking Oliver over.

“On his shoulder, _manita,”_ Lance said, gesturing.

Veronica tugged his onesie and laughed. “That’s so cool! I’ve got the most badass nephews ever! Who’s a precious baby?” Ollie squirmed with laughter and clenched his tiny hands. “Oh my God, I love him. Gimme the other one, I want to hold him.” Veronica switched with Lorena and they continued to fawn over them.

Marco and Luis came back with drinks for everyone. Luis kept staring at Lance and Marco kept staring at Keith. They each looked like younger versions of Lance, but Marco had thicker eyebrows and darker hair, while Luis had a rounder face and brown eyes.

“So, how are you part alien?” Marco asked.

“Um, well my mom was part alien. I’m not sure if her parents were two different aliens or like me, alien and human, but… yeah. I’m part alien on her side.”

“And you can have kids? Like a girl?”

“Marco,” Lance hissed.

“What? You said we could ask questions. It’s been ten years; I’ve got lots of them.”

Violet frowned and tugged on Lance’s jacket. “How come they think Daddy isn’t supposed to be able to have kids?”

Lance hesitated, sharing a look with Keith. Then Veronica swooped in.

“Who’s this gorgeous little girl? I haven’t heard a peep from you. Come here.” She gave Charlie to Marco and pulled Violet onto her lap. Violet giggled as Veronica started playing with her hair.

“Yes, I can,” Keith said, answering Marco. “But that’s all the kids I’ll be having.”

“The twins were like a C-section, so it was pretty difficult for us.” Lance took Keith’s hand, smiling at him sweetly.

“ _Ay Dios,”_ Lorena said. “Luis was a C-section too.”

Keith leaned forward and touched his stomach. “Does the weird tingling feeling ever go away?” She sighed and shook her head, smiling at him sympathetically.

“Sometimes it even still hurts,” she said.

“What time does Papá come home?” Lance asked.

“In about another hour. You want lunch?”

Lance nodded and Lorena got up, handing Ollie over to Luis. Charlie started to fuss and Marco stood up, swaying him side to side.  “Papá is still kind of weird about everything,” Marco warned. “I can’t say it’ll be as easy as it was with Mami.”

“Mami’s weak for babies, of course it’d be easy with her. Keeps asking me when I’ll give her grandchildren,” Veronica said with a snort.

Things seemed okay. Luis gave the baby over to Keith and Lance followed him out, apparently some unspoken thing between them that needed talking over. Keith had joined Lorena in the kitchen with Veronica and Marco close behind with his other kids. They were fascinated with the children; it didn’t matter that they had fuzzy, purple Galran ears. It only mattered that they were Lance’s blood, and therefore theirs.

That wasn’t so simple once Mr. McClain came home. The minute he walked in, he’d stood frozen at the doorway and stared at the scene of babies crawling along the living room floor and a little girl doing Veronica’s nails and Keith sitting next to Lance as they looked at an album of Veronica’s _quinceañera_ photos.

Lance took Violet’s hand and led her over to the tall, dark man with graying hair and a handlebar moustache, a few hard lines on his face from hard work and hard years. “ _Ven mi amor._ This is your _abuelito_ Andres. Papá, this is Violet. Your granddaughter.”

Violet stepped forward and hesitantly wrapped her arms around him. Keith saw Lance’s father flinch before he put his hands on her shoulders and Violet looked up at him with her wide purple eyes. His face remained uncertain, a slightly confused, even nervous smile on his face as he hugged her back and tucked her hair behind her ear. Then he froze and jerked his hand back, staring at Violet.

“ _Mira,_ Chito, _ven conoce a los gemelos,_ ” Lorena said, stepping forward with Veronica to show him the twins. Ollie giggled and reached for him, already used to being passed around and expecting to be grabbed by the new person in the room. Andres grabbed him, holding him with two hands under his armpits and staring at him with the same confused… disdain he’d looked at Violet with. Then he looked at Charlie who was staring back, but not reaching. Ollie had started playing with the moustache on his face, speaking gibberish with such conviction, the others started to laugh.

“Papá, this is Oliver and Charlie. And this is Keith.” Lance put a hand on Keith’s back and brought him forward. “This is my family.”

Andres settled his gaze on Keith, hard and angry. “So you’re the _ma-_ ”

“He’s your son-in-law,” Lorena intervened as Veronica hissed a frustrated, “ _Papá!”_ Lorena looked at Keith apologetically. “Of course, they have to marry by the church, but-” Andres intervened with quick, frustrated Spanish that Keith managed to catch a few words from. Mostly curses and a slur. Lance scowled and held Keith closer, his hand inching forward to pull Violet back. “Andres, _callate mejor,_ ” Lorena snapped. “We can plan that later. For now, let’s all sit to eat so I can hear more about these _angelitos, preciosos, pedacitos de mi cielo!”_ She turned Violet away with an arm around her and had Charlie in one arm. Veronica took Ollie and smiled apologetically at Keith.

As they walked away, Keith grabbed Lance by the wrist. “What are they talking about getting married by the church?”

Lance sighed and shook his head. “My mom is really religious. She says it doesn’t count for us to have been married up there now that we’re here where a priest could do it.”

“So the last eight years just-”

“ _Mi amor,_ ” Lance said, placatingly. “They count.” He kissed him gently. “We’re still married. My mom just wants us to do it by the church.” Keith grimaced and started to protest, to explain that he didn’t know anything about church or God aside from what Lance taught Violet, but Lance shook his head again. “Hey, don’t worry about it right now. I’ll talk to her. Whatever happens, we’ll talk about it. Let’s get done crossing today’s bridge before we get to the next.”

Keith sighed. He was starting to hate the bridge analogy. It was just a way to postpone problems, and it frustrated Keith because ignoring them until they were in your face meant being unprepared and he hated being unprepared. Lance hadn’t mentioned anything about a religious wedding, but he also knew he couldn’t comment on that now that he was barely trying to get accepted into the family.

He followed Lance to the dining room and looked where Violet was being served by her grandmother with a wide smile on both their faces. Andres looked stoic. Luis had started talking more, telling Lance all about his soccer games when he was eight, and a talent show when he was ten, then about a competition for the rifle team in middle school and how he was currently number eight in his junior class of more than nine hundred students.

Marco took to talking to Keith, asking about what the war was like and about the lions and how they worked. Veronica asked about how Keith and Lance got together and Lorena asked about the children.

“So how old were you boys when… Violet came?” she asked.

“Nineteen. Almost twenty,” Keith answered. “I was scared I wouldn’t be a good dad, but Lance always sure. He helped so much.”

“And the twins?” Veronica asked. “Were they pl-”

“Yeah,” Keith answered quickly. “Yeah, Violet really wanted a sibling. We didn’t expect twins, but yes, we felt more prepared.”

“Prepared?” Lance’s father repeated. “ _Para acabarla de joder. Entonces la niña fue un pinche accidente? Ni sabias lo que querías de la vida! Eras un huerco y por pendejo terminaste con-”_

 _“Andres!”_ Lorena shouted.

Violet stared at her fathers with wide eyes. “An accident? You didn’t want me?” she asked softly.

Lance and Keith looked at each other and then at Violet. “Of course we did, Vi,” Lance was quick to respond, but Keith could feel a panic rise in his throat.

“Then why’s _Buelito_ saying I was an accident!” she shouted. “Why’s he saying you didn’t know what you wanted!”

“She… knows Spanish,” Andres asked, looking nervous.

Lance narrowed his eyes. “Of course she knows Spanish,” he spat.

“Excuse me,” Keith said, barely keeping a hold of his anger. “Violet, come with me.” Violet stayed seated, but Keith grabbed her arm and tugged gently.

“I-I didn’t know-”

“Oh for God’s sake!” Lance shouted. “You don’t even look at the kids, you haven’t even looked at Keith or even said a single fucking word to him, Papa, don’t you fucking-”

Veronica shouted over him, along with Marco as Lorena tried to calm them down. “Andres! Apologize!” she snapped, finally shutting her kids up.

Even then, Andres seemed uneasy with directing his words to Keith. “I…. I….”

Keith cut his father-in-law off with a glare. “I need to talk to my daughter.” He pulled Violet into his arms and walked out of the dining room, out of the house. Violet was crying profusely, and Keith held her close. “Violet, sweetheart-”

“Tell me the truth! Did you even want me?” she sniffed.

“Of course I wanted you!”

Violet yanked away from him. “Not now! I mean when you found out. Accidents are bad, right? So did you want me when you found out about me?” Keith started to answer, but she shouted, “Don’t lie to me!”

Keith felt his heart breaking into smaller and smaller pieces. He sighed and opened his arms. Violet didn’t move. “Come here, love.” Violet’s shoulders sagged and she stepped closer. Keith wrapped her in his arms and sat on the porch step with her cradled in his arms despite her long legs no longer fitting the way she used to. “I didn’t know I could have babies,” he said. “On Earth, it doesn’t work like that. Not with my body.” He tucked her hair behind her ears. “I was a kid when your papi and I found out about you. I was scared.” Violet’s eyes welled up with tears.

“If you want the truth, I’ll tell you. I didn’t want to have a baby because I didn’t think I could. I was very angry and scared when I found out. But that changed. It changed when I woke up to Papi talking to my stomach to try talking to you. When he said we’d be a family. When I felt you kick for the first time.” Keith tucked her hair back and smiled at the memories, wiping her face with the pads of his thumb. “And when I held you in my arms for the first time, I knew I’d love you for the rest of my life.” Violet started shaking with her cries and Keith held her tighter. “Yes, it was an accident, but Vi… you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me and your Papá. Don’t you ever think we love you less than we would if it hadn’t been an accident. You hear me?”

She nodded and wrapped her arms around him tightly. Then she asked in a broken whisper, “Why is _abuelito_ so mean, Daddy?”

Keith sighed and rocked her back and forth. “It’s different on Earth, love. People think boys aren’t supposed to fall in love with boys. Or girls with girls. And like I said, on Earth I’m not supposed to be able to have kids. So he’s still getting used to a lot of changes. It’s been ten years since he saw your papi, and a lot is different and new.” She nodded and sniffed, wiping her tears as Keith held her.

He heard footsteps and turned to see Lance sitting beside him. “What’d you tell her?”

“The truth. That we love her. That she’s the best thing that ever happened for us.” Lance smiled and pulled Violet’s legs onto his lap. “What happened in there?”

“Marco and Mom are arguing with Papá still. Veronica and Luis have the boys.” He squeezed Violet’s leg for her attention. “You wanna leave, _princesa?_ We can get ice cream.” Violet nodded and leaned her head on Keith’s chest. “Let me get the boys in the car seats.” He stood up and placed a kiss on Violet’s hand, then on Keith’s cheek before he went inside.

Keith pulled Violet into a sitting position and smiled at her. “Let’s go say goodbye to _abuelita_ and your _tios,_ okay? Kisses and hugs.”

“Are we gonna come back ever?”

Keith furrowed his eyebrows. “Do you not want to?” She shrugged. “Well, your Papá will want to see his family. But if you want, we can tell _Abuelita_ to come to the house.” She nodded and took his hand before going back inside.

Lance was saying goodbye to his siblings, one car seat in hand, the other on the floor beside him. Keith went over to pick up the car seat and said goodbye as well. Lorena came back, looking irritated and flustered, but her expression melted away when she saw them leaving. She sighed and gave Violet a sad smile as she hugged her. “ _Abuelita te quiere mucho, cariño._ Maybe we can visit your home soon, _si?”_ Violet nodded and smiled up at her.

Once the goodbyes were over, Keith and Lance put the boys in the car and Violet strapped herself in. Lance got in on the passenger’s side, while Keith went to the driver’s side. Like Lance had promised, they stopped by a Baskin Robins and Lance went to order ice cream for Violet and another to share with Keith.

The first time Violet had tried ice cream, she’d fallen in love. It was her goal to try every flavor, and her mood always brightened when they got ice cream. Keith gave the twins a few star shaped puffs that they munched on while cooing as they looked at the bright colors of the establishment.

“You okay?” Lance whispered. Keith nodded, waving a dismissive hand. Lance sighed and squeezed his shoulder.

“I have a question,” Violet announced. Keith and Lance hummed and looked at her expectantly. “What do you have to do to have a baby? I thought you chose to, but if I was an accident-”

“Violet, love, eat your ice cream,” Keith said, feeling his face heat up.

“That’s a conversation for another day, _mi amor,”_ Lance added, scratching his head awkwardly. Violet didn’t look satisfied with that answer, but she didn’t pry.

Once Violet finished her ice cream, Lance wiped her mouth and herded everyone back to the car. Keith had his hand on the gear shift in the center while he drove, and Lance pried it away to lock their hands together. Keith knew he was trying to comfort him, but the day had been overwhelming. He simply acknowledged the gesture with a squeeze.

When they got home, Violet was fast asleep. Keith carried her in while Lance got the twins, and he tucked her into her bed so she could nap. On her bedside table was a picture of her with Noriu the night before they returned. Her purple lion plushie. A group picture of the paladins; Hunk with his arms over Pidge’s shoulders, Allura with the mice on her shoulders, next to Shiro, Coran with Violet on his back, and Lance and Keith each carrying one of the twins. Beside that, a sphere from her training, and a picture of her and Lance back to back with their weapons, both laughing.

Keith sighed and left her room quietly. Lance was inside, setting up the fence so the babies didn’t pass into the kitchen. They had free reign of the living room and were happily crawling around, following each other back and forth and pulling themselves up to try to stand.

Keith sat down on the couch, and Lance sat next to him, leaning over to rest his head in Keith’s lap. “Was it a bad idea? Going to see them?”

Keith looked down and ran his hand through Lance’s short hair. “No. She wanted to meet them. They loved the kids. It’s just… your dad crossed a line.”

“God, I _know,_ ” Lance groaned. “I can’t believe he said that.” Keith kept running his hands through his hair. “What did you understand from it?”

“A few slurs. A lot of anger. Seems like his problem is more with me than the kids.”

Lance sighed and shuffled up to lean into Keith. “I love you, you know that? No matter what anyone else says or thinks.”

Keith smiled and leaned in to kiss him. “I love you too,” he murmured.

After that, Lorena visited their home on the weekends, usually with Luis. Marco and Veronica visited on their own time. The day that she visited with Andres, Keith had gotten tense, worried that another episode would happen. But Andres seemed remorseful, and he’d taken both Keith and Lance aside.

“This whole… alien business…. It’s weird for me,” he said gruffly. “I lose my boy for ten years. Then he comes back with another boy, talking about aliens and war, with kids that look like him, but also like the other boy, I-” He cut himself off and pulled himself together, rubbing his eyes to stop them from reddening with tears. “I don’t know how to handle it all, I don’t know how to just be okay with everything. But I love you, Lance. You’re my son. And if this is your family, then they are mine too. I can… I will learn to get used to it. And I know I hurt your daughter the other day, I know… what I said was horrible, and I’m sorry. I really am. Do you… _both_ think you could forgive me?”

Keith held some reserves. Violet had cried so much, and Keith himself had felt unwanted that day. He didn’t know if he had it in him to forgive Andres. He didn’t think he wanted him near his children. But he was Lance’s father, and Lance was already hugging him and crying into his shoulder.

And because Keith loved Lance, Keith bit his tongue and promised himself to try and forgive his father-in-law.

Violet, taking more after Lance than Keith, smiled and wrapped her arms around him, forgiving him as easy as that when Andres knelt down to apologize to her. Andres seemed to have finally broken, finally realized these were his grandkids, and he hugged her back tightly. From then on, he always had one of his grandkids in his arms, and while he obviously still didn’t approve of Keith, he was polite and tolerant.

That’s when the talk of marriage began.

About two weeks before school started for Violet, Lorena and Andres came to the house with Luis who enjoyed playing with the babies. While they drank their lemonade out in the backyard, Lorena offhandedly said, “We should plan this wedding soon. I went to the church, and they have the group talks on Fridays at seven. Andres and I can watch the kids for you.”

“You found a church willing to marry me and Keith?” Lance asked in surprise.

“Yes,” she said. “After the Pope gave his opinion, a lot of priests- here at least- have agreed to marry same-sex couples.” Keith remained quiet, uncomfortable. “I explained the situation, and as long as you both go confess, you’ll be fine!”

“Confess?” Keith questioned. “Confess what?”

“Well, your sins, _m’ijo,_ ” she answered. Keith furrowed his eyebrows and she laughed. “How did you do your first communion without a confession?” Keith stared at her, then at Lance. “You… did do you first communion, right?”

“Mami, Keith wasn’t raised in the church. He didn’t get a chance to do those things.”

“Has he been baptized?” Andres asked.

Keith furrowed his eyebrows. “I’m… I don’t think so…. My mom didn’t know about that stuff. I doubt my dad did it. The closest I’ve come to a church was for his funeral,” he answered.

“ _Ay Dios mio, pero como puede ser!”_ Lorena shrieked. “We have so much to do, Lance _porque no me dijiste?”_ Lorena stepped away, pulling out her phone to make some calls while Andres just tilted his head back and shut his eyes.

Keith looked over at Lance who was smiling at the kids as they laughed at Luis who was playing monster. That was the day that the relationship with his in-laws really changed.

By the time Violet was starting school, Lorena was insisting Keith go to classes for his communion and confirmation, and she had already started planning his baptism along with a baptism for Violet, Charlie, and Ollie. She began sending him websites and videos about God and the gospel and each time she visited, she sat him down and pulled out a Bible to teach him something new.

To Keith, none of it made any sense. He knew a few things from what Lance would teach Violet. The Creation, the expulsion of Adam and Eve, Moses and the Plagues, Noah’s Ark, Jesus being born and dying on a cross, though he had no idea why that had to happen. To Keith they were stories. Made up to understand the world. God, yeah, Keith had seen enough and had been through enough to believe there was _something_ or _someone_ up there watching over them. A reason he’d survived as long as he had. But the God he was being taught about sounded ruthless, almost evil sometimes. And he had no idea what to do with that. Especially since Violet seemed to understand better than him, and she had no problem praying with Lance every night, her voice full of adoration and certainty.

They had something Keith didn’t. A level of faith Keith wished he could have. They accepted the information, understood it for themselves. But Keith didn’t. It didn’t make sense to him, and he hated that it was being stuffed down his throat, that he was expected to just accept all of this as a truth.

And for what? To get married _again?_ He was already married, as much as his mother-in-law said it didn’t count anymore. He knew it would be easy to just go through with it to appease Lorena, which was what Lance seemed to be doing. But he just didn’t understand it, and he couldn’t pretend to care for something when he was being force-fed all of the information and held to these expectations.

On top of that, Keith was dealing with Violet coming home every other day crying because someone had made fun of her ears. She started wearing her hair down to hide them, but even then, she said kids would pull her hair and tug her ears and call her names. It didn’t help that she was younger than most people in her grade. She’d learned at a quick pace up in the Castle, so when they’d tested her, instead of going to third grade at eight years old, she was in fifth and turning nine in October. She felt out of place, confused, especially with everything the kids talked about that she didn’t grow up with.

Finally, one day, Keith burst. Lorena had gone home and Violet had just finished her homework and went to the back yard to shoot a nerf gun Lance had bought her. She missed training, and on bad school days, she would go out there and train until dinner even if she didn’t need to anymore. Ollie and Charlie were napping, so Keith was free to drop his mask.

He sat at the table with his head in his hands, fighting every urge to fling the Bible and rosary and stupid pamphlets Lance’s mother had brought. A hand on his shoulder made him tense. “Baby, what is it?”

“You need to talk to your mom,” he spat through gritted teeth. “She needs to stop with all of this.” He gestured at the things on the table and pulled at his hair.

“It’s for us, Keith. I know it’s overwhelming-”

Keith stood up and glared at Lance. “For _us_? What about us? What about this has anything to fucking do with us? To get married? We’re already married! And we have been for eight years! I don’t want to fucking do this, this is stupid!”

Lance pulled back and stared at Keith with an expression he couldn’t decipher. “Please don’t call my religion stupid.” Keith furrowed his eyebrows and took a breath. “You don’t want to get married again, fine. But don’t come complaining to me that my parents are mad at you or something. And don’t let Violet hear you talking about this like that. This stuff means something to her. To me.”

“I’m not the one who started this!” he protested. “I know it means something to you and to Violet, I can respect that, but, for fuck’s sake! Your mom just pranced in preaching to me, what the fuck was I supposed to say to that? You never said anything about this to me! This makes me uncomfortable, I don’t get this-”

“Okay! I get it! I heard you, alright!” Lance shouted back. “Just leave it alone then!” He grabbed the Bible, the rosary, and pamphlet. Keith scoffed and went back to their room. “Dinner’s ready,” Lance called after him.

“I’m not hungry,” he answered back, before going to take a shower and cool down.

By the time he was out, Lance and Violet were finishing dinner while Charlie and Oliver were throwing Cheerios at each other. Keith went to change and laid on the bed, looking at the wall tiredly. It wasn’t fair that Lance was angry with him for not wanting to go through with a series of pointless rituals to make him religious. Lance had fallen for Keith knowing he wasn’t religious, so why would it be a problem now? It was stupid.

A while later, Lance came in the room and sat on the bed. Keith watched his shadow on the wall. “I’ll talk to my mom tomorrow.”

He laid down and Keith stayed quiet, their backs to each other as they drifted to sleep. Keith didn’t sleep well, somewhere between wanting to fall asleep but feeling too heavy to actually do it, too unsettled by the last argument.

That was how he heard the sniffs that came from Lance. He woke up fully and wondered if maybe Lance was getting sick. But he heard the shaky exhale and turned to see his body shaking in time with the soft cries.

Keith put a hand on Lance’s shoulder, confused. “Lance? What’s wrong?”

Lance gasped and sat up, wiping his face. “Nothing.”

“Love.”

Lance sighed and looked at the ceiling. “Jesus, Keith, what do you think?”

Keith frowned and felt even more confused. “Is this seriously about me not wanting to go through with all the stuff your mom wants me to do?” Lance stared at him. “Why? Why is this so important to you if you already did it for yourself?”

“Because, Keith. If you did them we could get married by the church, and-”

“We don’t have to do that just because your mom wants us to.” Lance stared at him, more tears running down his face. “Wait. Do _you_ want to get remarried?” Lance sniffed, hesitating before he nodded. “What for?”

“Ugh, forget it, if you’re going to laugh or-”

“No! I’m not…. I’m not trying to make fun, I’m just… actually confused. I need you to explain this to me. I didn’t know this was something that _you_ wanted.”

Lance wiped his face again and grabbed Keith’s hands. “I didn’t at first. It sounded silly to me too. But then Mama found someone willing to marry us and… I loved it. The idea of knowing we’re united by God, not just in space, but everywhere.”

Keith furrowed his eyebrows. “You have a lot more faith than me, my love. I can’t say these things with the conviction you do. I don’t understand the things your mom teaches me, and….” He sighed and tilted Lance’s face to him. “This… is important to you?”

Lance nodded slowly. “When I was growing up, I only knew that I was supposed to marry a girl. That it was the only thing that was okay for God. Now… with what my mom said about the Pope, and finding a church, I just…. It feels like I’m not waging a battle of how Catholic to be while still being able to love you as much as I do. When I started dating you, when Violet came into the picture, I’d just… made peace with never being able to do that. It’s different now.”

“Okay. Then I’ll do it.”

“But you’re uncomfortable, Keith, you don’t want to do these things, and I get that, we grew up differently, that’s okay-”

Keith leaned forward and kissed him. “I didn’t have a reason before. If this really means that much to you, I don’t mind trying. I just can’t promise I’ll have the faith you do. But if this is something you really want for us… then I’ll try. We’ll get married in a church and I’ll know it’s not meaningless because it matters to you. That’s enough for me. Just… tell your mom to ease up a bit.” Lance chuckled and wiped his face, but he still seemed unsure. “Lance?” Blue eyes drifted to Keith. “Will you marry me? Again?”

Lance laughed and nodded, taking Keith’s face in his hands and kissing him again. God, Keith would marry him a thousand times if he had to.

Eventually, Lance intervened and managed to turn Keith elsewhere to be taught. With someone much slower paced, who allowed his questions and didn’t condemn his confusion. After a talk with a priest they managed to find a way to do all three sacraments at once with the same teachings.

Keith understood the significance behind each of them, and he managed to understand what about being married by the church meant for Lance, even if he didn’t necessarily feel this level of need himself. He understood it, respected it, but he still struggled understanding everything they taught him. By December, he’d gone through his three sacraments, and while he didn’t feel any sort of white-light revelation and feeling of total adoration Lorena swore he would, he did feel lighter when he saw Lance’s face.

That same December, the kids were baptized, even though Keith was terrified because he’d seen videos online of babies being dunked in water over and over again. Here, it was just a few scoop of water with a shell on their foreheads. Violet was beyond ecstatic. It was the only reason Keith let his kids get roped into this.

The twins turned one. Violet was nine. The school year ended. They remarried that summer, and Keith could see the comfort it brought Lance. Keith met more of Lance’s family, many of which didn’t bother hiding their shock at the kids or Keith. Keith got a job, uncomfortable with staying at home all day and living off Garrison checks. Lance watched the twins. They traveled that summer, letting Violet experience more of the earth she’d heard so much about.

Everywhere they went, people stared at the purple ears the kids had. They stared at Charlie’s silver hair. They stared at Keith and Lance. But they pushed through it as a family.

Another year went by. Violet was about to turn 11. The boys were walking, a few months away from turning two.

Keith and Lance were arguing.

The arguing wasn’t new. They’d been married for nine years, together for eleven. Arguments were normal. But the arguments had increased lately. It was a rare night that went without some form of shouting or disagreement.

“We don’t have the money to throw a party in a waterpark,” Keith said, crossing his arms.

“What about your job?” Lance asked.

“That money goes to bills.”

“And the Garrison checks?”

Keith rolled his eyes. “We had to use the last one for Charlie’s hospital visit last week.”

“You spent that whole check for a hospital to tell you Charlie had a fever?”

Keith pinched the bridge of his nose. “He has a stomach virus, and I also used it for medicine. The treatment was expensive. Believe it or not, Lance, we can’t live off those checks with three kids!” His voice began to raise toward the end of the sentence, which made Lance scowl.

“You keep complaining about me not working, but if I do, where do we leave the boys? In a daycare? That’s more money being spent, what’s the fucking point?”

Keith ran his hands through his hair and clenched his hands in frustration. “I don’t give a shit if you work or not, Lance, but you also can’t want things we can’t afford! A waterpark party, a pet dog for the kids, a new car for both of us. This is too much! The kids are growing more every day, they need new clothes! We have enough money to live well, you just love to spend it on pointless things!”

“Money is meant to spend! Is it so bad if I want to take my kids to a movie or out to eat sometime if I have the fucking money for it? I wish I could’ve done that when I was a kid.”

“Look, I know you want to give them a better life, better experiences, but I’m just asking you to pay attention where you spend!”

Lance took a deep breath and rubbed his head tiredly. “Alright, fine, no waterpark. So what, a cookout here? We’ll invite my family and Hunk and Pidge and see if Coran and Allura can come too. What? Why are you making that face- oh my _God_.”

“You know how Violet feels around your family,” he muttered. “You know how they look at her. Do you even think about how it might make her feel? They look at the kids like they’re freaks, they look at me like I’m a freak!”

“Is this about you or the kids?” Lance snapped. “They’re my family, Keith. I can’t just turn my back on them.”

“They already did it to you!” he shouted.

Lance clenched his jaw and turned away, shoving the table aside. He started for the door, but before Keith could ask, he said, “I’m going for a drive.”

Keith scowled and listened to the door slam before he fixed the table back in place and started dinner. Lance came back half an hour later. As he walked in, they heard one of the twins cry out, waking up from their nap. Lance just looked at Keith then went to the babies’ room. Keith finished dinner and called Violet to set up plates. Lance came back with one twin in each arm and set them each in their high chairs.

“Is… everything okay?” Violet asked.

“Yeah, why? Keith answered.

She shrugged. “You guys aren’t talking.” Keith and Lance shared a look and huffed. “See?” she muttered.

“It’s fine, Violet. We were just wondering what you wanted to do for your birthday,” Lance said, serving a little food for the twins. Keith served Violet’s plate and then his own.

Violet shrugged. “I dunno. What can we afford?”

“Don’t worry about that,” Lance said.

Keith shot him a look. “Tell us what you want, and we’ll tell you if we can or not.”

Violet drummed her fingers on the table. “A pony?”

“Ah, funny girl,” Lance said with a snort. “We’re being serious.” Violet shrugged again. “Well, I was thinking we could do a _carne asada_ here and invite your _abuelitos._ ” Violet smiled and nodded. “Anyone else? From school? We can invite _tia_ Chely, _tio_ Juan, your cousin Kary and their families. We’ll get a bouncy house for you all to play in.” Violet’s smile faded and she took a forkful of food.

“I told you, she’s not comfortable with those brats,” Keith muttered.

“They’re her cousins,” Lance answered.

“It’s her birthday, not yours.”

“You’re teaching her to block out family, Keith, you can’t do that-”

“No, but you know she doesn’t like making you upset, she won’t _tell_ you she doesn’t want to see them-”

“Jesus, Keith wh-”

“I don’t want to do anything!” Violet shouted over them. “If you guys are just gonna fight about it, I don’t wanna do anything for my birthday.” Keith and Lance looked at her and then at each other. Keith felt his cheeks heat up and he turned to wipe Ollie’s mouth. “Yaz and Miguel _do_ make fun of me, Papá. And Chely and Roberto just say mean stuff about you and Dad. I don’t like them. Kary’s baby likes to poke Ollie until he cries, and Juan’s kid tried to cut Charlie’s ear last time.”

Lance sighed and looked at Keith who didn’t bother with an _I told you so._ “I know it’s hard, _princesa._ But they’re family. They’re not used to us yet like your grandparents.”

“Okay. I just don’t want them here on my birthday.”

“That’s fine, Vi. We can do something else. You want to go out to eat somewhere?” Keith asked. “I get off work early that day.”

“You’re working on her birthday?” Lance asked. Keith nodded. “I thought you were going to ask for the day off.”

“I was, but they were short staffed, and I figured we could use the money.”

“Yeah, big difference that four hours of work are gonna do,” Lance scoffed.

“It very well could make a difference, Lance, what with all the bills we’re falling behind on.”

“It’s her _birthday,_ ” Lance said.

“And I’ll be back in time to take her out.”

“Then you’re going to call saying they’re asking you to stay over time, and we’re going to be sitting here waiting on you.”

“Lance, that happened one time and it was an emergency,” Keith said through grit teeth. “Now stop arguing over dinner.”

Suddenly Charlie started coughing and spat up, throwing up the little bit of food he’d eaten and still kept gagging between desperate cries. Lance wiped his mouth and pulled him out, rocking him and taking him to the sink to rinse his mouth and breathe. “Great deal of help the hospital did,” he spat as he rubbed Charlie’s back to ease the coughing and the panic throwing up had given his baby.  

Keith scowled and stood up. “Give him to me, I’ll take him.”

“No, I got him.”

“You’re pissed off, I don’t want you taking him like that.”

“Yeah because you’re the picture boy for happiness right now. Let me take care of my son.”

“Give him medicine!” Keith called after him as he walked away. Ollie started crying, frightened because of his brother’s crying and the fact that he wasn’t in sight. Keith sighed and picked him up, shushing him with his old Balmeran plushie doll. He looked over at the table and saw Violet staring at her plate blankly, her ears flattened down. “Violet-”

With that, she stood up and left the table.


	2. Beautiful Birds Will Fall For You

It took everything not to slam the door. Violet crawled into her bed and put a pillow over her head before screaming into it in frustration.

She missed space. She missed the Castle of Lions. She missed Noriu and her nino and Aunt ‘Lura. She missed being somewhere where people didn’t look at her like she was a freak the way they did here. She missed seeing her parents smiling and cuddling instead of yelling and scowling at each other.

And she hated school. She loved learning; she loved math and science. She was smart, and her teachers liked her even if they looked at her with a funny look in their eyes when they smiled. But the kids… they were older, they were mean, and Violet wasn’t even allowed a beanie to cover her ears.

It wouldn’t make a difference anyway. They always yanked her hair to see _them_. They knew the ears were there and still put their hands on the sides of their heads in imitation, running around calling her names.

She had long since stopped coming home with complaints. The school didn’t do anything about it. They couldn’t. They tried to get the kids in trouble when they were caught, but it only went worse for Violet. And it wasn’t like a teacher could follow her everywhere to be sure every kid said only nice things.

She had tried to fix her ears once.

She covered them in Tia Vero’s make up, but it only made the fur sticky and oily. She tried cutting the fur, but they were still purple, and the fur grew back even more unruly.

One day, she’d gotten really angry. Because the teasing never stopped. Because even her teachers didn’t know how to make her feel better about them. Because the choir teacher didn’t let her try out for the solo because she didn’t want parents getting distracted from the music. Because Dad and Papá had been fighting again about something stupid and she could hear them in their room.

So she’d grabbed a pair of scissors and tried to cut the point of her ear away, figuring if she cut that part, it would heal rounded and wouldn’t grow fur back. She couldn’t even close the scissors all the way before she dropped them and fell to the floor, holding her ear and crying into a towel.

The small cut still managed to bleed a lot, and she cleaned it up with the towel. It stung to wash out her fur, and her entire ear felt sensitive and slow. The other flicked and the one she’d cut just twitched.

Her fathers didn’t know. They hadn’t noticed. She kept her ear under her hair and she’d thrown out the towel. It healed, but now she had a ridge on her ear, not the original pointed tip or even the rounded tip she’d wanted.

It didn’t help that when her baby teeth fell out, her canines had grown back like little fangs. The kids at school ran away screaming and laughing, calling her a vampire. “Stay away, she’ll suck your blood!” Or that for some reason they thought her the Asian eyes she’d inherited from her daddy were hilarious and always pulled at the corner of their own to tease her, calling her “China Eyes.”

She hated it. She hated school, and now, she was starting to hate home.

She fell asleep and didn’t wake up until her alarm for school went off. She took the bus, so it wasn’t hard to avoid seeing her parents that morning. She just had to make it out the door before Dad left for work. She simply knocked twice on the bedroom door and then ran out of the house to the bus stop.

When Violet got to school, there was a new kid sitting next to her. A girl with bright green eyes and freckles. She was wearing a purple dress and she didn’t seem to mind the laughing around her as Violet took her seat.

“Hey, I’m new. My name is Giselle.”

Violet nodded. “Violet.”

“Do you like this class? I’m not too good at science.”

Before Violet could answer, a boy named Victor yanked her hair and said, “Don’t sit with the alien. She’s gonna probe you!”

Violet covered her ears with her hands and looked at the new girl who looked surprised, but not disgusted. Giselle looked at Victor and scowled. “Leave her alone. That’s not how you tell a girl you like her.”

“What? I don’t like her!” he shouted.

“Then why are you blushing?”

Victor stared at her in horror and quickly went back to take his seat, not even sparing a glance in Violet’s direction. “Is that true?” she whispered. Giselle raised an eyebrow. “Well, people mess with me a lot, but you said he liked me.”

“Oh. No. If you like someone you should never be mean to them. But I knew if I made it look like he did he’d leave you alone.” Violet frowned, thinking of her parents for some reason. “Those are cool by the way. Why do your ears look like that?”

“One of my dads is part Galra. It’s an alien race.” She raised her eyebrows and smiled like Violet had told a joke. “I’m for real,” she insisted.

“Okay, I believe you. Cool eyes too. Lots of purple. That’s my favorite color.” She gestured to her new purple backpack, notebook, and pencil case. “Do you probe people?”

“No!”

Giselle shrugged. “Okay. Can I sit with you at lunch?”

“People are gonna make fun of you if you do.”

She shrugged. “So? Wait, do you have fangs?”

“I’m not a vampire!” she said, a little loudly. A few of the other kids laughed, but Giselle nodded very seriously. “I didn’t have them when they were baby teeth.”

“Cool,” she said. “So you got two dads and two moms?”

“Two dads.”

“Your mom died?”

“I don’t have a mom.”

“Everyone has a mom.”

“Not me. My dad is part alien so he had me and I got my Papá. They’re married.” Giselle stared at Violet in confusion. “It’s weird, but it’s true. It happens a lot in space.”

“Space?”

“Yeah, I was born there. I lived on a Lion Castle ship until I was eight and we came here.”

“I can’t tell if you’re lying to me,” Giselle admitted. “You’re good at acting if you are.” Violet scowled and crossed her arms, ignoring Giselle. “Don’t get mad, I’ll still be your friend.”

“I don’t wanna be friends with someone who thinks I’m a liar.” And just like that, Violet lost her first and only Earth-friend.

When Violet got home that day once the after school art club was done, she opened the door and didn’t see lunch on the table or either of her fathers. Her dad was usually home by now, and Papi always had a sandwich or warmed up leftovers from lunch ready for her so she could eat something before they started dinner.

She went to her brothers’ room and saw them both fast asleep. As she went down the hall to tell Dad and Papa she was home, she heard the muffled shouting. She heard something clatter and more yelling.

It made her stomach twist to hear them. She could hear the curse words and the frustrated Spanish Papá always slipped into when he got mad.

Aggravated, she went to the back yard and grabbed her staff which she’d brought from the ship. Pushing thoughts of her parents and school in the recesses of her mind, she started to jab and hit. She grabbed it like a sword and began to attack the air, standing like her parents taught her. She tried to remember the routine of training just so something could have some sort of order, some sort of sense and logic.

But she kept tripping. The staff kept fumbling from her hands. The frustration bubbled and Violet growled as it built. The staff clattered again, and Violet felt everything burst. The thoughts of her parents screaming, the thoughts of being made fun of, of being called a liar, of looking the way she did all made her let out a feral growl and she started whirling the staff, attacking the sturdy tree in the back yard with a level of ferocity she never knew she had.

It wasn’t until she felt a pair of arms around her, trying to compress her that she realized how much she was thrashing and screaming.

“Violet, Violet!” Another pair of hands grabbed her face and she saw her papi’s worried expression in front of her. “Shh,” someone hushed in her ear. It was her daddy.

“ _Princesita,”_ Lance said, getting her attention again.

And the next thing she knew, she was crying between both of them. Sobbing harder than she had in a long time. The staff was awkwardly bent and it laid beside the tree which had several nicks from the blows Violet had unleashed on it. Daddy held her together while Papá stroked her hair and rocked them both.

“Why didn’t you tell us you were home, pumpkin?” Daddy asked.

“You were f-fighting,” she cried.

They shared a look, something they always did when Violet told them the obvious. “What happened, _mi_ _niña?”_ Papi asked. “Did you get like this just because of us?”

She shook her head. “It’s everything! S-school, and th-there was a new g-girl, sh-she, she thought I w-was a liar, a-and Victor ran away-y from me when she said h-he liked me and then you w-were fighting, I’m s-scared, I’m t-tired,” she sobbed, shaking violently.

“No, no, no, my sweet, sweet girl,” Daddy murmured, kissing her forehead. “Breathe, pumpkin, breathe. Catch your breath. Shh.”

“Wanna go home,” she breathed.

“Home?”

“The castle,” she said.

Papa sighed and enveloped them in a hug. “Come on, let’s get inside. Tell us what happened at school.”

Daddy picked her up and carried her in while Papá made her a sandwich. She wasn’t hungry, though. She was tired and she wanted to sleep until the day was over. It was quiet for a long time. Violet partially hoped one of her brothers would wake up just so she wouldn’t feel their eyes on her, worried and nervous.

Honestly, it made her kind of angry. That they put those faces on and want her to talk when they couldn’t even have a full conversation without it turning into a screaming match. She wasn’t going to talk, even if the redness of her eyes and the gasping, stuttered breaths she took gave her away.

“Violet, what happened at school?” Papá asked.

Violet clenched her jaw. It was quiet again.

“Are you gonna eat your sandwich?” Dad asked. She narrowed her eyes. Quiet. “Violet, if you’re upset with us for arguing, I want you to know that everything is fine. You shouldn’t have to worry about the things we talk about, so don’t let that bother you. We’re your parents, and we’re here for you in anything. You don’t have to get involved in our grown-up conver-”

“How am I not supposed to?” she shouted, banging her hands on the table. “I come home and you’re fighting! I try to eat dinner and you start fighting! I go to bed and I can hear you fighting! And you don’t even try to keep it secret! You fight in front of me, in front of Ollie and Charlie!” She shoved her sandwich aside, fighting a wince as the plastic plate clattered to the floor, standing her ground when Papá stood up from his chair looking angry. “Don’t try to make me feel better with a stupid sandwich! Everything is bad at school, and it’s the same here!” She scampered away and slammed the door to her room, locking it, partially in fear that they’d come to yell at her for yelling, but mostly because she wanted to be able to break without feeling weak for it.

Her parents weren’t bad. They weren’t bad to her. They didn’t hit her or say mean things to her. She wasn’t afraid of them. She was just afraid of all the changes that had started since they got to Earth. She hated seeing them angry with each other when she was used to seeing them so full of happiness.

When she didn’t hear footsteps or anyone at her door, she opened the door slowly, peeking out from between a crack.

She could hear hushed whispers, quick words. She strained her ears, and her good one twitched to find a decent position to listen.

“-what we wanted for her.”

“I know, love, we’re just at a rough patch, but it’ll be okay. We just have to….”

“Have to what?”

“I don’t know. We’ll give her time to calm down. Then we’ll go talk to her.”

She looked out down the hall and found them in each other’s arms, foreheads pressed together. If not for the tears on Papá’s face, she might’ve believed they’d been plucked out of the past. Slowly, she shut the door again and crawled into her bed.

Violet hadn’t realized she’d fallen asleep until she felt a hand on her shoulder shaking her awake. She groaned and opened her eyes to find her dad sitting on the edge of the bed, smiling at her. It was dark now, so she must have been asleep for a while.

“Hi, pumpkin,” he whispered. “Dinner’s ready. You hungry?”

Violet shrugged then nodded. He pushed her hair back and gently encouraged her out of the bed. He walked with her to the table where Charlie and Oliver were already sitting, each with macaroni smeared all over their faces.

“Vi-et!” Ollie shrieked. Charlie tried to call for her too, but he started coughing which resulted in what sounded like choking, and Papá quickly gave him a sippy cup of water and snapped his fingers above his head.

She smiled and pressed a kiss on both their cheeks, making them laugh. Then she took her seat and kept her eyes on her plate which had been served for her. A porkchop, some broccoli, and cheesy macaroni. It was one of her favorite dinners on Earth. She just found it hard to eat at the moment.

“You want something to drink, _tesoro?”_ Violet shook her head and started eating if only to keep her mouth full and not have to answer questions. “ _Amor,_ pass me the napkins.” Violet kept eating and when she was done, Papá said, “Go take a shower, Vi. We’ll be there to tuck you in when you’re dressed.”

She nodded and turned away. Before she went into the shower, she looked back and saw her parents holding hands over the table.

Sure enough, as she struggled with brushing her hair, dressed in her PJ’s, her fathers and brothers came into her room. Ollie and Charlie waddled around and started playing with her dolls which most of Papá’s family had given her for her last birthday.

Dad and Papá sat on her bed. Papá waved her over and took the brush from her, taking over with gentle strokes. “We wanted to apologize to you, _princesa,”_ he said softly.

Daddy took her hand. “You’re right; we shouldn’t be arguing in front of you. And we’re sorry the arguing has been happening so much. There’s just a lot going on right now.”

Papi started braiding her hair down her back. “And we’re gonna work on that. For you and your brothers. But your dad and I love each other, okay? So don’t you worry about anything. Adults argue.”

“You didn’t do it so much on the Castle,” she whispered.

Daddy hummed and squeezed her hand. “Why don’t you tell us what happened at school?”

As she recounted the day, she started crying again. Her fathers each held one of her hands and hugged her tightly, listening. At one point, Charlie ran over to her and placed a wadded up tissue on her face. “Vi-et no cry,” he said with wide worried eyes. She laughed slightly and hefted Charlie onto her lap as Papi tousled his hair.

Then Ollie tugged at the covers to pull himself up on the bed. Daddy helped him up and Ollie crawled around them to hold himself up behind Violet and hug her. “Vi-et cry, Papa.”

“I’m okay,” she whispered holding Ollie’s chubby little hand in hers.

“Give Violet kisses, boys,” Lance encouraged. Charlie and Oliver each leaned over to press a slobbery kiss to her cheek before they all laughed in delight. Tiny arms wrapped tighter around her and she wondered if maybe things would be okay after all.

\--

The next day at school, Giselle sat next to her again. Violet decided to ignore her. Then she felt something touching her arm. She glanced down and saw a piece of paper with her name on it. Giselle wasn’t looking at her, and just pulled her hand back when she saw that Violet had acknowledged the paper.

Curiosity won over, and Violet grabbed the paper and unfolded it.

_Dear Violet with the violet eyes,_

_I’m sorry I didn’t believe you and called you a liar. I didn’t mean to say that. I hope you forgive me because you’re pretty cool. I’ve always liked aliens so it’d be cool for my first friend here to be part alien._

_Sinserely,_

_Giselle Emilia Clarke_

_P.S- I think your ears and fangs are super awesome. And I promise to never call you a liar again._

Violet folded it back up and tucked it into her binder, not looking at Giselle. Then she said, “You spelled ‘sincerely’ wrong.” She looked over and saw Giselle smiling widely at her.

“I knew that would make you talk to me again.” Violet rolled her eyes and shrugged. “So are we friends?”

Violet looked over at her and all the purple that surrounded her in her school supplies. Today she had a big, sparkly, purple bow in her hair. She looked like she meant it. Giselle didn’t look at her like the other kids did. The others looked at her with mean smiles and grossed out looks. Giselle wasn’t even looking at her ears.

“Yeah. Friends.” Giselle beamed and nodded, turning forward in her chair. “Sincerely is with a C, by the way.”

“I know,” Giselle said.

That day at lunch, Giselle stayed with Violet and sat with her in the tables outside in a courtyard. She’d started asking about her family, and Violet wondered if it was because she hadn’t believed her at first. She told her about her Papa, Daddy, Charlie, and Ollie. She told Giselle about all of her aunts and uncles from the castle ship, and she told her about Noriu and the space mall.

After a while, Violet got tired of talking. So she decided to start asking her own questions. “You said you liked aliens. Since when?”

“Since I was little,” Giselle answered. “I used to watch alien movies with my dad. I loved _Lilo & Stitch. _And I loved _Home._ Those are cartoons though. I really liked the real life alien movies. When I was little, I wanted to be an astronaut so I could meet an alien.” She shrugged. “I didn’t think an alien would come to see me.” Violet smiled and started laughing. “I guess the kids here make fun of you a lot, huh?” Violet nodded. Maybe Giselle noticed she didn’t want to talk about it though, because she didn’t ask more about it. “Do you think I could meet your family one day? They sound super cool.”

“Y-yeah. I can ask my dads to let you come over.”

“Awesome,” Giselle said. “My dad said I could start having sleepovers when I’m eleven, and I turned eleven last month.” Then she frowned. “But this weekend is Mom’s weekend, so I’ll have to ask her.”

Violet frowned. “What do you mean it’s Mom’s weekend?”

“Oh, my mom and dad are divorced.” Violet furrowed her eyebrows. “Like, not together anymore. So I go with my mom on weekends and I go with my dad all the other times. I used to have to go see Mom every weekend, but when she got her new boyfriend last year, she said I could choose what weekends. I know she doesn’t like if I miss a lot of weekends though, so I promised I’d go this time.”

Violet looked at her sadly and then stared at her food. “Oh. Why’d they break up?”

Giselle shrugged. “Dad says Mom did some bad stuff, and then he got a new girlfriend when he was with my mom. They used to fight a lot and I remember a lot of bad stuff from them hitting each other. Then one day, my dad was taking me away and it was a while before I saw my mom again. I didn’t mind though. My mom used to scare me a lot.”

Violet felt something twist in her stomach and she gulped back the panic rising in her throat. “I’m sorry,” she said.

“It’s okay! If I can’t sleep over this weekend, I’ll ask for next weekend!”

***

Spending all day with the twins was fun. They mostly sat to watch cartoons or waddled around the living room, playing with toys. It was painful to see Charlie sick enough to where he didn’t like playing too much, and he mostly spent his time curled up on Lance’s chest.

Ollie kept poking at him, trying to get him away from Lance and back to playing, so Lance intervened and set them both beside him as he flipped through a photo album.

Oliver kept trying to flip to the back, and when they recognized someone, Charlie lifted his head and Oliver called out in excitement.

“Papa! Dada!” he said as Lance looked at a picture from back on the Castle. He and Keith had just started dating, and Keith was covering his face with their intertwined hands while Lance laughed.

He flipped the page and saw more pictures of Hunk and Pidge and Allura and Shiro. Coran had a whole two pages to himself because he’d taken a million selfies trying to figure out how a camera worked.

Then there were the pictures of Violet’s sonograms. Then the picture of Lance holding onto Keith who held a newborn Violet.

Lance remembered the pregnancies with such clarity. The devotion. The protective nature with which he fought as soon as he’d found out they’d be having a baby. The joy of feeling them kick, of holding them in his arms when they were born.

It was so easy then, being with Keith. They’d argued, yeah, about the babies, about the effects of the pregnancies, of how stressed they could get being parents. But it had never been as bad as it was now.

Having Violet yell at them through tears had been a wake-up call. The last thing Lance ever wanted was to have Violet grow up with any sort of negativity. He and Keith had problems, but those issues could be saved for when they were alone or calmer…. Not for a space in which their daughter could hear. He didn’t want Charlie and Oliver growing up with the idea that arguing was a normal thing to have.

Maybe they just needed a break from their lives. A day to be those kids in the pictures again.

As he flipped the page, the door opened and Violet came in. “Well hello, _tesorito,”_ he greeted her. “You look like you’re in a good mood. How was school?”

Violet plopped beside them and smiled widely. “I made a friend. Her name’s Giselle. She thinks it’s cool I’m part alien, and she wants to sleep over. But she has to ask her dad.”

“A new friend?” Lance asked, perking up. As far as he knew, this was her first friend. “Wait, I thought Giselle was the name of the girl you told us about yesterday.”

Violet nodded and dug into her backpack. “Yeah, but she gave me this today.” She handed him a wrinkled paper and he opened it, reading over the adorable apology. “So we became friends.”

“That’s wonderful, Vi!”

She smiled and took the note back. She looked over at the photo album in his lap which Oliver had started flipping through haphazardly. Then she frowned and asked, “Papa, how do people get divorced?”

The question made a dead weight settle in his stomach. Lance frowned and tilted her head over to him. “Why do you ask, pumpkin?”

She shrugged. “Giselle’s parents are divorced. So she takes turns staying at their houses sometimes.”

Lance sighed and nodded. “That’s a long process that has a lot of paperwork. But don’t worry about that stuff.” Violet nodded and stared at the pictures. “You have any homework, _princesa?_ ”

“Yeah, I’ll start it in a bit. Daddy worked today?” Lance nodded. “What’s for lunch? I’m hungry.”

“Well, I thought we could go out and get something to eat. What are you in the mood for? Chick-fil-a? Jack in the Box?”

Violet frowned and shrugged. “Won’t Daddy get mad if we spend money on fast food?”

The question rubbed Lance the wrong way for a number of reasons. He didn’t like that Violet was worrying herself about that, he didn’t like that Keith’s stinginess with money made her nervous to eat out, and he didn’t like the fact that Violet might have had a point. Knowing Keith, and especially if he had a long day at work, he’d get angry about spending when he found out.

Still, it was just one day, and besides, Violet had made a friend! It was a cause to celebrate! Keith’s attitude would pass eventually, and they wouldn’t suffer because they spent twenty bucks.

“He’ll be fine, _princesa,_ don’t worry. Tell me where you want to go eat.”

She bit her lip and thought it over. “Can we go to McDonald’s?”

“McDonald’s it is,” he answered with a smile. “ _Y mis prinicpes? Quieren papas?”_

“Yah! Papas!” Ollie answered. Charlie nodded, figuring that whatever Ollie wanted was good.

Lance shut the phot album and put it on the lamp table before scooping the boys up and ushering Violet out to the car. He strapped them in and they went to McDonald’s, where Violet got herself a one dollar spicy burger, and the boys shared a Happy Meal.

“Vi, you can play in the jungle gym if you want,” he said, noticing how she glance over. “You want your beanie?” She nodded and Lance dug into he bag of diapers and bottles he had for the boys to pull out her beanie. It had been a gift from Pidge after she found out about Violet getting bullied. They had special pockets to cling to her ears and cover them while the fabric allowed air to pass through so even if it was a hot day, she could still wear it without overheating.

She bounded off to play and Lance watched her from where he sat. Ollie was making a mess out of the fries and Charlie was laying in Lance’s arms, looking like he was half asleep. It hurt to see him like that because Charlie was usually very playful with Ollie when they were home, but ever since he’d gotten sick, he didn’t want to do anything.

“Alright, bubs, time for your medicine,” Lance said, pulling Charlie into a sitting position. “It’s expensive according to Daddy, so we’d better take it.”

Right after Lance had put away the medicine, his phone rang. He pulled it out and answered when he saw that it was Keith.

“Hey, _amor._ Out for lunch already?”

“Yeah. Did Violet get home already?” Lance hummed in affirmation. “How was her day today? Any more bullies?”

Lance chuckled. “Actually, she made a friend. The girl from yesterday wrote her an apology letter, and Violet said they became friends and hung out all day. They even ate together.”

“Really? Oh my God, really?”

Lance laughed, his heart elating at the sound of joy in Keith’s voice. “Yeah. She came home happy today. And… well, I brought her to get McDonald’s. You know, to celebrate.”

“Oh, Lance,” Keith sighed in exasperation. “Fast food again?”

“It’s a special occasion!”

“Right,” he muttered. “Well, how’s Charlie feeling?”

“He’s fine. I just gave him his medicine, he doesn’t have to take it again until bedtime. He hasn’t thrown up today, and his cough is a lot better. Ollie won’t leave his side.”

“Okay, that’s good. Alright, I’ll call you when I’m off work, babe.”

“Bye, I love you.”

“Love you too.” Keith hung up and Lance put the phone away. “Ollie, go get Violet. Tell her we gotta go bye-bye.” Oliver nodded and trotted off to the jungle gym.

“Vi-et! Vi-et!”

“What?” she called back.

“Go bye-bye!” Violet slid down a slide and Oliver made a waving gesture to tell her they were leaving. “Vi-et!”

“Okay, okay,” she laughed. “You’re so cute.” She leaned down and pulled him up into her arms as she walked back over to Lance.

“Ready to go?” he asked her. She nodded.

They made their way back to the house and Violet got started on her homework at the dining table. Charlie was put to bed and Oliver stayed on the couch with a bottle watching a cartoon.

Lance kept looking through the photo album, comparing the life they had on the space ship to the one they had now. How was it possible that simply by having bills to pay and family members to deal with, their relationship was straining? He hated how often they argued. He hated how easy it was for him to lose his temper now.

He wanted to go back to how they were on the castle. Happy, relaxed- as relaxed as they could be when they knew they could get called out to a battle at least. They were just… better together. Maybe they just needed a day to themselves.

On the castle, the kids would go with one of the other paladins or Coran, and Keith and Lance managed to catch a break for a while. Maybe they just needed that again. A moment to themselves. To push away thoughts of bills and crying babies and just… be the 28-year-olds they were for a bit.

He didn’t want to ask his parents to watch them because he didn’t want them to know about the arguing. And he didn’t want to ask his sister because she was stressed with the final touches for her wedding.

Hunk and Pidge lived about an hour away. And the kids knew them, missed them because they only really saw them on holidays and long weekends. Hunk knew about the struggles Lance and Keith had at home, and maybe he and Pidge wouldn’t mind watching the kids for a night.

He messaged Hunk, asking if he was free the next day, which was Friday.

_Not really, Pidge wanted to stay in. Why what’s up?_

_I was wondering if you could watch the kiddos so I could have a date night with Keith? Trying to soothe the rough patch…._

_Yeah, of course man. What time are you dropping them off?_

_After Violet gets off of school if that’s cool._

Lance sighed in relief and hoped this would help them. They loved each other, there was no doubt about that. They just needed to really be together again. A romantic night and a moment to relax together.

“Hey princess, how do you feel about going to stay with Aunt Pidge and Uncle Hunk tomorrow night?” Violet looked up from her homework in confusion. “I wanna surprise Daddy with a date, but you have to keep it a secret, okay?”

“Oh! Okay!” she said, with a wide smile. “Yeah, I like sleepovers with Aunt Pidge. I wanna tell her about Giselle.” Lance smiled and tousled her hair.

\--

Later that night when Keith got home, he seemed to be especially tired. After greeting Violet and the twins, and giving Lance a greeting kiss, he plopped on the couch and let Oliver and Charlie sit on him.

Lance walked over and sat on the floor, brushing away the hair in Keith’s face. “Rough day?” Keith nodded. “I’m sorry, baby.” He leaned over and kissed his cheek, and he heard Keith sigh contentedly.

Then the twins followed suit and pressed sloppy kisses to Keith’s face, making him laugh until the twins were giggling and squirming around on his chest. “Oh, you boys are getting heavy,” Keith groaned. “Charlie looks better.”

“Yeah. He took a nap and then he’s been running around with Oliver since,” Lance said. “You working tomorrow?”

“Yeah. But I get off earlier. Has Violet said what she wants for her birthday?” Lance shook his head. “How’s your day been, love? These kids didn’t drive you nuts?”

Lance laughed and shook his head. “Oliver was a little fussy this morning, but he’s been calm since Charlie wasn’t feeling well. And Violet came home really happy because of her friend.” Keith smiled and nodded. “Go take a shower. I’ll make dinner.”

“Okay. Violet finished her homework?”

Lance sighed and pulled the twins off of Keith before helping him up. “Violet did her homework, took a shower, and she’s been watching TV. She’s okay. Don’t stress so much.” He pressed another kiss to Keith’s lips and smiled at him. “I love you.”

Keith smiled back and kissed him softly before going to shower.

That night, there were no arguments at dinner. There was no scowl or frustrated sigh at the mention of McDonald’s. Violet seemed content, and Charlie seemed to feel better. The twins easily fell asleep, and once Violet helped clear the table, she went to bed too.

When Lance got to their room, Keith was already in bed. Lance sat down on his side of the bed and stared at their dresser. There were a few things missing, mostly knickknacks they’d gotten from their trip that summer. All because Lance had lost his temper the day before mid-argument. An argument about finances and maturity had ironically led to him throwing his wallet at Keith, screaming about control, but when Keith had ducked, it just made the little souvenirs clatter to the floor and break.

And still, they hadn’t stopped screaming. Not until they heard the screaming of a little girl.

“Hey,” he heard. He turned and saw Keith sitting up. “What are you thinking?”

“That it was stupid to throw my wallet at you yesterday,” he whispered.

Keith sighed and wrapped his arms around him. “Our whole argument was stupid,” he muttered. “But it’s in the past. We can’t change it. We just have to… be sure it doesn’t happen again.”

“We’ve said that before, Keith.” He didn’t answer. Lance looked over at him and pushed his hair back. “We’re gonna be okay, right?”

“Yeah,” Keith answered. He shifted and tilted Lance’s face back to him. “Hey. I know… I know it seems like all I do is pick fights about money. But I promise, I’m… I’m trying my best to make you happy. You know that right?” Lance stared at him and tried to find solace in the words. But one night of not fighting didn’t erase the last several months of harsh arguments and ruthless words. “We’re gonna be fine. Because I love you. And you love me, right?”

Lance nodded and kissed him. “More than you could ever begin to imagine,” he murmured. So much that Lance was more than willing to forgive and forget the screaming matches that had taken over their lives to start over, to make things better for his kids and for his husband.

He pulled Keith onto him, loving the feeling of Keith’s weight on him. Loving the feeling of the hands that knew him in every possible way. Hands that could make him come undone so easily. Hands that were strong, and steady when Lance felt he couldn’t be. When Lance’s insecurities caught up and those hands held him together better than anyone else could.

\--

The next day, before Violet was supposed to get home, there was a knock at the door. Lance answered and was surprised to find Hunk and Pidge on his doorstep.

“Guys! What are you doing here, I thought I was dropping the kids off for you?”

“We figured it’s easier for you to just come get them ourselves,” Pidge said. “Where’s our hugs?” Lance laughed and invited them in, hugging them each tightly. “So, how’s being a stay-at-home dad?”

“It’s fun. I like having time to play with them outside and being here when Violet gets home. How have you guys been?”

“Same old, same old,” Hunk said. “Teaching at the Garrison is taxing. I’m not sure if we were that frustrating when we were there.” Pidge snorted and looked at Lance pointedly. “Where are the boys?”

“Oh, over here. Charlie, Oliver, look who it is!” They came rushing to see and Pidge crooned as she bent down to hug them.

“Oh my God, they’re so big! You boys just keep growing and growing!”

Hunk took Oliver and lifted him into the air, making him laugh hysterically. “Aw, man, you gotta visit us more often. Hey, buddy!” Pidge and Hunk made themselves comfortable on the couch, each with one of the twins in their arms. “What time does Violet come home?”

“She should be here in about half an hour,” Lance said, looking at the clock. “She’s excited to spend the night with you guys.”

“And how’s Keith?” Pidge asked, her voice a little more solemn.

“He’s good. Tired from work, usually. That’s why I’m hoping that tonight will help. Take a break, and stuff.”

Pidge nodded. Hunk bit his lip and then asked, “You guys doing okay? You said you were going through a rough patch.”

“Yeah…. We’ve just been arguing a lot lately over everything. Violet’s caught on and it’s taking a toll on her too.” Lance grimaced as he thought of the way they’d found Violet breaking down in the backyard. And of all the other times she’d pointed out their fighting. “That’s why I’m so worried. Neither of us want this for her.”

“It’s that bad?” Pidge asked. “But… I mean… you guys have always picked fights since forever. What… what’s making it so bad now?”

“Yeah, but… before we picked fights over dumb stuff like the word quiznak, or who was a better pilot. When we dated it was about… whether we’d sleep in my room or his. It was always small stuff, or playful. I mean, we didn’t argue yesterday. It was okay yesterday, but it was the first night we haven’t argued in a while…. I just… I don’t know.”

“I’m sure things will get better,” Hunk assured. “It’s still hard getting used to Earth again after all this time, and you guys have kids to worry about too.”

“Yeah,” Pidge nodded. “You guys always get through things,” she said.

Lance smiled gratefully at them and nodded, feeling comfort in the reassurances and hopes.

***

When Keith had gotten off work that day, he had a pounding headache. He hated dealing with the people he dealt with, and he wondered why he bothered with the job instead of just getting a job at the Garrison if he wanted extra money.

Of course, it wasn’t that easy. The Garrison had troubling memories with it. So much of Keith’s life had revolved around the Garrison, and he was free now. He didn’t want to go back. Not if he didn’t have to. Although, he was dealing with ridiculously stupid customers over the phone at the expense of it.

The good thing about his job was that he could take a day off during the week and he was allowed to leave early on Fridays. It at least provided the recovery he needed to be good at his job.

When he got home, he was a little confused at the lack of screaming children and the lack of hugs. Then he was confused at the sight of candles on the table and the food that had been set out with a glass of wine. They didn’t really drink wine. Or use candles.

Then he saw Lance in the kitchen, finishing up serving the other plate, wearing one of his nice shirts.

“Lance?”

Lance looked up and smiled, setting the plate down to go greet him. “Welcome home, _mi amor,_ ” he whispered.

“What’s this for? Where are the kids?”

Lance sighed and ushered Keith to the couch. He knelt in front of him and held his hands. “The kids are with Pidge and Hunk for the night. After all the stuff we’ve been dealing with lately, I… I thought it could help if we had a night to ourselves. A date night. So we could just relax and be together and not have to worry about everything that makes us argue.”

“Oh. Oh, Lance,” Keith murmured, pressing his forehead against Lance’s.

Lance sighed again and put his hands on either side of Keith’s face. He looked tired. He looked afraid. “I feel like we’re losing each other. And maybe we’re overwhelmed with the kids and the bills and the family. But I have to know we’re going to make it. We are, aren’t we?”

“Yes,” Keith said vigorously. “Of course we are.” Keith kissed him gently. “We have everything we could ever want.” They smiled at each other and Keith felt his affection for Lance swell up in his chest. “What’s for dinner?”

Lance smiled excitedly and stood up, taking Keith’s hand to lead him over to the table. “I made pasta with lemon herb chicken and steamed vegetables. And a chocolate cake for dessert.” Keith smiled and chuckled softly. “What?”

“I just… I don’t know how I got so lucky as to have gotten to marry you twice.”

Lance laughed at that and kissed him again. Then he pulled the chair out for him and proceeded to sit across from him.

Part of Keith was wondering how much Lance had spent on the wine and the flowers, but then he remembered the whole point of the date was to stop worrying. Besides, a little struggle wasn’t going to leave them without food to eat. Maybe just one or two movies they wouldn’t be able to see in theaters.

“How was work?” Lance asked.

Keith wrinkled his nose. “Stressful. But I can handle it. How was your day? When did the kids go with Hunk and Pidge?”

“They left when Violet got out of school. It was a good day. A little lonely without the kids around for a while, but it gave me time to do this!”

Keith smiled and began eating almost ravenously. The food was so good. They didn’t talk much as they ate. It didn’t feel like they needed to. While the silence was unusual, it was also relieving. Lately, their only silences had been when the twins were asleep post-argument. It was nice to have a silence without tension, without simmering anger.

When they were done, they took their wine and sat on the couch, facing each other and laughing nervously like it was a first date. It had been so long since Keith had been alone with Lance and it truly felt like the years were melting away, taking them back to those first few months of dating. Where everything was clumsy and funny and nerve-wracking and exciting. Every touch was new and intense.

Lance’s fingers traced his collarbone and Keith hummed softly at the touch. It was incredible to think that they’d been like this every day at one point. That there had in fact been a time in their lives where nothing called for a fight. And Keith wanted it to last forever.

“I love you,” Lance whispered. “So much, Keith.”

Keith leaned forward and brushed his wine-stained lips against Lance’s. “I love you too.” He ran his hand through Lance’s hair and smiled sadly. “I want to be better for you. Better at handling the parenting, the working, and loving you too.”

Lance sighed and pressed into the hand resting on his cheek. “Oh, Keith. You’re already good at it. You’re the best thing I could ask for. I… I need to pitch in too. I know I’m not the best at managing expenses, and I know that makes us struggle usually.”

Keith shook his head. “I want you to be happy. And I want the kids to be happy. We can find ways to meet in the middle, spend without coming up short on the mortgage. But, that doesn’t matter right now. Right now… we’re not dealing with those things. We’re just with each other, right?”

Lance smiled and nodded, kissing him again softly. “Yeah. Exactly.” He stood up and held out his hand. “Dance with me.”

“There’s no music,” Keith said with a laugh as he slid his hand into Lance’s.

Lance pulled him up and brought him in close.  “Sure there is. Listen.” Keith indulged him and listened, a smile playing on his lips. Lance started humming a song so softly, it was only audible because of the utter silence in the house. “Can you hear it?” Lance whispered. Keith nodded his head, looking into Lance’s eyes.

They were older now, but Lance’s eyes never failed to make him lose his breath. To make him lost and completely hypnotize him with the serenity in them, the absolutely inimitable blue that they were.

It felt beautiful. The dancing was slow, maybe not even really considered dancing. It was just a slight sway to each side with tiny steps to turn in a circle in the middle of the living room. Both just trying not to bump into the coffee table. Both completely enraptured by the hope that came from the peace they felt at that moment with each other. With Lance’s soft voice consuming him, his eyes unraveling him, his hands holding him securely. And receiving that smile that never seemed to age, with that deep dimple, and that slight scrunch of his nose. Keith couldn’t believe it was a smile meant for him. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d received that same smile.

But that didn’t matter because he was receiving that smile now and that was enough. It was enough to hold on to, to ease his worries and assure him that he and Lance had so many more years of sweet songs and clumsy slow dances and gentle kisses to come. That a few arguments weren’t going to take that from them.

There, in the middle of his living room, in the silence and the stillness that befell them, Keith could feel his entire body and soul falling in love with Lance all over again.

It wasn’t that he’d ever stopped. It was more like a reminder. Like he was falling even more in love. But it felt so fresh and wonderful.

Before Keith knew it, they were in their bedroom, fumbling with clothes until their bodies were lined up and pressed close together. Nothing but the taste of each other in their mouths.

Reassurances of love and renewed promises were mingled with desperate gasps and heated moans. The sound of the headboard against the wall, their own sounds and reactions, the creaking of the springs in the bed didn’t matter because there was no risk of being heard by their children. For the first time in a long time, they were unrestrained and completely feral with need for each other.

Until they laid side by side, panting to catch their breaths. Tired, sleepy, and so, so in love.

It was the most peaceful night Keith had experienced since they returned to Earth.

When he woke up that morning, it was later than usual. There was no babbling from a toddler on the baby monitor, no one waking them up with the sounds of cartoons on the TV. And while Keith missed it, he had to admit he loved how it felt to wake up so late and wrapped around his husband.

He kissed the back of Lance’s neck and sighed deeply as he nestled into him. Lance squirmed in his sleep and turned around, throwing an arm over Keith’s torso. Keith chuckled to himself and kissed his forehead before letting himself drift back to sleep.

When they both managed to wake up and get out of bed, it was only to get something to eat and curl up on the couch together and watch TV.

The whole day, the spent it lounging about, laughing at stupid jokes and attacking each other with kisses and tickles. Finally, by the end of the day, they were supposed to pick the kids up from Hunk and Pidge’s house.

Before leaving though, Keith pulled Lance aside and held his hands tightly. “We’re going to do better,” he promised. “I’m going to do better. And we won’t argue over the same things we always did before. It’s not important. Not when we have what we have.”

Lance smiled and nodded. “We’re gonna be okay.” Keith smiled and kissed him one more time before they got into Lance’s car.

They drove over to Hunk and Pidge’s and by the time they got there, and Hunk opened the door, the kids were asleep in front of the TV where a Disney movie was playing.

“Hey guys!” Hunk greeted, hugging them both tightly. “How was date night?”

“Very needed and very romantic,” Keith said with a smile. Hunk smiled at that and invited them in to sit at the dinner table. “How were the kids?”

“They were good. The twins got mad at each other for a few minutes, but then they were fine.” Hunk shrugged and looked over at the sleeping forms. Then he looked back at Keith and Lance a little more seriously. “Uh, I think I should mention that… Violet was asking about divorces and custody sharing earlier.”

“What?” Keith asked, feeling something uncomfortable roll in his stomach.

“Why would she… why would she ask about that? She already asked me about it-”

“What?” Keith asked, cutting Lance off.

Lance shrugged. “It was about her new friend. She has divorced parents, and Violet was trying to understand it.”

“Yeah, she mentioned that,” Hunk said. “But she stayed quiet for a while and asked what caused the divorces.” He hesitated and looked at both of them. “Look, I have no idea what’s up at your home. But you’re both very important to me, and now I’m a little worried.”

“Nothing’s going on,” Keith said sharply. “Just a few arguments that got out of hand, but we talked about it.”

“Yeah, we’re not going to do that anymore. We just needed a small break to catch up with each other,” Lance said, taking Keith’s hand. “We’ll talk to her.”

“Okay. I just thought I should tell you. And you guys can always count on us to help out, okay?” Hunk said.

Keith nodded, gritting his teeth. The whole situation was upsetting him. Hunk knowing, trying to help or intervene. Violet having asked Lance about this before, and Lance not telling him. He didn’t want his relationship out for everyone to dissect and criticize, even a close friend like Hunk. And he didn’t want Lance keeping things like this from him.

He didn’t want Violet worrying or thinking about divorces and custody.

“Where’s Pidge?” Lance asked, obviously trying to ease the tension. Keith could feel his thumb rubbing circles into the back of his hand.

“In the shower. She should be out soon.”

“I’m gonna get the car seats to settle the twins in. I’ll carry Violet,” Keith said.

“Okay, I’ll carry the twins back.” Lance handed over the keys and Keith left.

When he came back and managed to secure the twins without waking them, Pidge came out to greet them with her hair in a towel and an unused toothbrush in hand. “Hey guys! Did you enjoy the kid-free time?”

“We’re not bad parents if we say yes, right?” Lance said jokingly.

Pidge laughed. “Nah, I think that just makes you human. I don’t think you two have a had a night without any of the kids there since we got to Earth, huh?” Keith shook his head. “Well, Violet like the chance to hang out with a girl. We did our nails and everything.”

Lance laughed and nodded. “Yeah, she loves her aunt Pidge. She misses Allura too, but it’s so hard to get Shiro to coordinate a visit. But hey, we’re gonna get out of your hair and get going home before it gets too late.”

Lance picked up one car seat in each hand and Keith went to pick Violet up from the couch. She seemed so much bigger, and it made Keith’s heart clench to think that his little girl was growing up so much. All he could think was that he wouldn’t be able to carry her one day. It only made him hold on tighter. She grumbled and wrapped her arms around him loosely, snoring softly in his ear.

Keith managed to get her into the car and leaned her against Charlie’s car seat before shutting the door softly. He and Lance said goodbye to their friends and thanked them again for watching the kids. Then they were driving back home.

Lance took Keith’s hand and sighed. “Are you mad at me for not telling you about Violet? Asking about divorces?”

Keith glanced over at Lance and bit his lip. “No,” he decided. “I mean, I wish you’d told me, but… I’m upset that she’s even thinking about it. We need to talk to her.”

“Yeah, of course. Besides, she only asked because Giselle mentioned it. You know how much Violet likes to learn about new stuff.”

Keith hummed. “Yeah, but she shouldn’t about _this._ ” Lance didn’t answer. He just kissed Keith’s hand.

When they got home, Lance took the twins in and Keith started to take Violet, but she stirred and opened her eyes.

“Hi, Daddy,” she greeted. “What time’s it?”

“Almost eleven, lovebug. Come on, let’s get into the house.” She nodded and shuffled out, taking his hand as he led her inside. “Need help getting ready for bed?”

She shook her head. “I got it, Daddy.”

He nodded and kissed her forehead as she padded off to her room. Lance came out of the twins rooms a few seconds after and shut the door softly. “Vi’s awake,” Keith said.

“Do you want to talk to her now?” Keith hesitated and shook his head. “We can talk to her in the morning. She’s tired anyway.”

Keith nodded and Lance held his hand out. He took it and smiled as Lance pulled him into a kiss. With Lance’s arm around his shoulders, they went to Violet’s room and knocked on the door.

“Come in,” she called out through a yawn. “Everything okay?” she asked, furrowing her eyebrows when they walked in.

“Yeah, _princesa,_ everything’s good. What, are you too old for us to tuck you in?” Violet rolled her eyes and giggled.

“No, Papa,” she said.

They each went on either side of her and kissed her forehead, wishing her sweet dreams. Keith reminded her that they loved her, and smiled as her eyes fluttered shut again. It was funny how quickly time could pass. How one day he was holding her for the first time, putting her to sleep, and now she was so big and he couldn’t even dream of fitting her in his arms.

Lance tugged on his arm and they left her room to retire to their own. Keith fell asleep quickly once Lance wrapped his arms around him.

The next morning, Keith woke up to the smell of bacon. He went to the kitchen and found Lance and Violet flipping pancakes and the twins in their high chairs eating half of a banana each.

“Good morning,” he greeted, looking fondly at the sight of his husband and his daughter trying to keep pancakes from burning. Lance greeted him with a kiss on the lips and Violet hugged him tightly. Keith went to sit with the twins, chuckling as they each made a mess of themselves with the banana.

As they ate breakfast, Violet told them about how much fun she had at Uncle Hunk’s and Aunt Pidge’s. She told them about funny things the twins did, and about an old movie Hunk had shown her. Keith and Lance listened raptly. Keith couldn’t help but feel his heart swell at the sight of his daughter looking so genuinely happy. He loved when she went into these rambles, similar to Lance in nature. He loved seeing how excited she got when they asked her questions and she got to ramble more.

Finally, once they’d finished breakfast, Keith looked at Lance and then at Violet. “Pumpkin…. Uncle Hunk mentioned that you were asking about divorces.” She looked at them both and then looked at the table, shrugging. “Your papa says it’s because your new friend has divorced parents.” Violet nodded, looking at Keith. He hesitated and smiled encouragingly. “So it’s not at all because you think… we’re going to get one?”

Violet stared at him silently then very briefly at Lance before her eyes settled on her empty plate. Her eyebrows furrowed, but that was all.

Lance gently tilted her head up. Her eyes were starting to fill with tears. “Hey now, _por que lloras?_ We’re not mad at you, _mi niña.”_ She furrowed her eyebrows further and Keith noticed her ears flattening against her head. “We just want to know what you’re thinking. And we want you to know that’s not going to happen. Your dad and I love each other. We’re gonna do better for you and your brothers.”

“And even if we argue, it doesn’t mean we’re going to get divorced, love,” Keith added softly. “But we promise we’re going to try not to argue so much anymore.” Violet nodded and rubbed at her eyes. “We’re not mad, Vi.”

Violet nodded again and sniffed. “I was just scared because Giselle said her parents fought a lot, but they hit each other, and I didn’t know parents could leave each other, so I was confused and scared.”

“Vi-et! Vi-et!” The three of them looked over at Charlie who was struggling to try and unbuckle himself from his chair. “Vi-et no cry. No, no, no, Vi-et.” Keith smiled and unstrapped him, letting him down. Charlie immediately went to Violet and wrapped his arms around her legs, settling his head against her knee.

“Ari, Vi-et, off, off,” Oliver shouted from his own chair. He was kicking and squirming. “Ari! Ari!”

“Is… is he trying to say Charlie?” Lance asked as he unstrapped him. Ollie waddled over and did the same as Charlie, but he wrapped one arm around his brother too. Lance smiled and tucked Violet’s hair behind her ear. “Your brothers love you very much, _preciosa._ ”

Keith gulped past the knot in his throat and took Violet’s hand over the table. “And so do we, my sweet little girl. Don’t be scared, okay? We’re a family. And everything’s going to be okay.”

“Enough heavy topics,” Lance said, discreetly wiping his eyes. “Why don’t we go to the park today? We can get ice pops from the Bon-Ice guy.”

Violet perked up and nodded, getting off the chair and taking her brothers to find their shoes.

A half hour later, they were at the playground and Keith watched the twins leading Lance to the playground, pointing insistently at the monkey bars until Lance figured out that he was expected to help them both on monkey bars… at the same time. Violet was playing with a faux steering wheel, shouting commands like she was piloting a lion.

Then suddenly all three of them were fighting against Lance, toppling him to the mulch on the playground. Charlie was tugging on his hair and laughing. Oliver hit him with tiny fists that Lance pretended hurt, but that only made Oliver laugh and call for Keith with shouts of, “Da-ee, ‘ook! Da-ee!” so he could watch how silly Papi was. Violet meanwhile was shouting in victory, her hair an unruly mess, long since frizzing out from her braid as she tackled Lance down over and over to unleash the twins on him.

“Please, mercy, mercy!” Lance wailed dramatically.

His salvation came when the kids heard the bell of the Bon-Ice guy that sold ice pops. Keith went to buy them some and came back to Lance settling the kids at a picnic table before distributing the snack. Lance and Violet were arguing about who won their little battle, and the twins simply babbled to feel included, adding to the argument with gibberish.

Keith laughed as he looked at his kids and leaned against Lance. He wondered how he got so fucking lucky. He never wanted to let this go.


	3. Unsteady Confetti

The light from the computer was starting to hurt Keith’s eyes. It was late, and he was tired, and he wanted to go home. It was the second week he was working late without taking his usual day off within the week or getting off early on Friday.

He’d talked about it with Lance, and while Lance felt like he didn’t _need_ to work so much, there hadn’t been an argument about it. Keith wanted to save his free days so he could spend the week of Violet’s birthday with her instead of working on her birthday like he was going to. And with the extra money, they would be able to do whatever she wanted for her birthday without worrying about work the next day.

“Hey, you look like you could use this.” A Starbucks cup was set down in front of him.

Keith looked up and smiled gratefully at his coworker. “Thanks, Leo.”

“How late are you working tonight?”

Keith looked at the clock at the corner of the computer. “Another hour. You leaving already?”

“I was,” he said with a shrug. “Are you hungry? I can pick something up and bring it back before I go home.” Keith started shaking his head. “Lunch was nine hours ago, don’t tell me you’re not hungry.”

Keith laughed and rubbed his eyes. “Don’t worry about it. Lance usually has some food set aside for me when I get home.”

“Mm. You sure?” Keith nodded. “Alright. Don’t work too hard. I’ll see you Monday.”

“Drive safe,” Keith called, returning to the screen. The boxes on the excel sheet were blurring together and making him dizzy. He drank from the coffee and sighed as something finally fell into his stomach. “I like my job, I like my job, I like my job,” he repeated to himself as his eyes scanned over the statistics he was given. “Full week of no working. Doing this for a full week of no working.”

He continued working and as soon as he hit his allotted time, he logged off and piled up his paperwork. He said goodbye to the janitorial staff and texted Lance that he was on his way home in case he wasn’t awake or the twins were still falling asleep.

He kept the music up so he could stay focused, thankful that his job was so close to his home. When he got inside, the house was quiet, so he figured everyone was asleep. And just as he expected, there was a note on the table telling him there was a plate of food in the microwave that he could heat up.

Keith heated the food and took it out before it could beep. Lance had made some shredded beef with rice. If Keith recalled correctly, it was called _ropa vieja,_ and it had taken him a long time to pronounce it correctly. He went into the fridge and pulled out a soda when he heard a tired voice call his name.

He looked up and saw Lance squinting at the light, with that sleepy look on his face. “Hey, baby,” he greeted. He walked over to Lance and kissed him softly.

“How was work?”

Keith chuckled as Lance leaned into him, shutting his eyes. “It was fine, as always. Go to bed, love, I’ll be there as soon as I eat, okay?” Lance nodded and kissed his cheek. “Love you.”

“I love you too,” he yawned with a sleepy smile. “Wake me when you get to bed.” Keith nodded and watched him shuffle back to their room.

He ate quickly then went to shower and brush his teeth. He got to the bedroom and got dressed before getting into the bed beside Lance. Keith leaned forward and kissed him lightly, wrapping his arm around him and tugging him close.

“Lance,” he whispered. “Lance. Babe.” Lance squirmed a bit and then opened his eyes. “Hey, love. You told me to wake you.”

Lance smiled and nodded. “Yeah. Just wanna know you’re here.” Lance wrapped his arm around him and sighed as he cuddled in closer. “I miss you.”

Keith kissed his forehead and took a deep breath. “Yeah. I miss you too. Now go to sleep.” Lance simply hummed and then he was snoring softly.

It wasn’t long before Keith was woken up. He started awake when felt a foot shoving his leg aside. Then the covers were yanked away, getting twisted around Lance’s thrashing body. He sat up, startled at the sight of Lance clawing at himself in his sleep, straining and muttering incoherently.

“Lance? Lance!”

Lance twisted and Keith could hear panicked refusals making their way through clenched teeth.

“No! No, don’t- no!”

Keith hurried to straddle Lance and cupped his face. “Lance, baby wake up!” he insisted. He slapped him as gently as he could while still trying to wake him, trying to coax him out of his nightmare.

There was a gasp and suddenly Lance was thrashing to shove Keith away, still shouting in fear. “Get away from me!”

“Lance, baby, it’s me. It’s me.” Keith held his hands up, trying to gauge Lance’s state of mind by his eyes. He was gasping for breath, and his entire body was shaking. “You’re okay. You’re safe,” Keith told him gently. He got off of Lance and pulled him up into his arms. “You’re here with me. You’re safe.”

“Where are the kids?” he asked in a small voice.

“Asleep in their rooms. You wanna go check on them?”

Lance nodded, so Keith stood up and took his hand. He led him to the twins’ room and Lance went over to each of their cribs to see them. When he was satisfied, he went back to Keith and they went to Violet’s room. Keith walked with him to Violet’s bed and saw Lance’s face contort in pain.

“They’d taken her,” he whispered. “I couldn’t do anything. You were gone.” Lance pressed his fingers to his eyes, trying to keep the tears away. Keith sighed sadly and wrapped his arms around Lance.

“We’re okay here. We’re safe. It’s all over. No one’s going to hurt us ever again.” Keith pressed a kiss to his shoulder and Lance squeezed his arm slightly before pulling away to kiss Violet’s forehead. He took Keith’s hand again and they returned to their bedroom. Keith sat on the bed and kept Lance wrapped in his arms. “I thought this would stop when we were home,” Lance muttered. “It didn’t happen last year.”

“We’d just gotten back,” Keith said. “Your excitement must have kept the PTSD at bay.” Lance groaned and leaned into Keith, holding onto him.

Ever since Violet’s first birthday after the attack that had nearly killed him, Lance began getting nightmares around the same time each year. They only got worse, at first only waking him up at night with nervous energy that had him in the training room until morning. Now, after so many years, they had escalated into full on panics in the middle of the night that left him thrashing in bed then paralyzed when he woke up.

It was painful for Keith to see, and he wondered if Lance would benefit from seeing a psychologist. The Garrison promised to provide any help with any mental or physical help the paladins needed, so Keith knew it would be easy to find one for Lance. Still, with him shaking in his arms, he knew better than to mention it right then.

He ran his hands through his hair continuously and hushed him gently, reassuring him that he was safe and nothing would happen to them. Keith ran his hand through Lance’s hair again and again until he felt his weight settle fully against him. He’d fallen back to sleep.

The next morning, Keith was woken up to children jumping on his bed. “Daddy! Papi! Wake up, wake up!” Violet shrieked. “Giselle comes over today!”

“O-ow! Yes, Violet, but that’s not until much… much later,” Lance mumbled sleepily, grabbing Oliver before he flipped over Lance and onto the floor.

Keith chuckled and grabbed Charlie, hugging him to his chest. “Is your room clean?” he asked. The jumping stopped. Keith opened his eyes and looked at Violet knowingly. “Mm. Didn’t think so. No clean room, no friends come over.”

“Aw, _Dad!”_ Keith looked at her expectantly and she huffed. “Fine.” She scrambled off the bed and left the room.

Lance laughed and lifted Oliver up. “You boys wake up so early,” he said. Oliver giggled and Lance smiled.

Keith touched Lance’s face and raised an eyebrow. “You okay?” Lance grimaced, but he nodded. Keith smiled at him and turned his attention to Oliver who was laughing as he squirmed in the air. Keith looked down at his silver-haired son, cuddled up against his chest who was staring at his brother in wonder. “I’m gonna get breakfast started, okay?” Keith whispered. “I love you.”

Lance smiled and brought Oliver down to his chest where he squirmed and exclaimed to get lifted back up, hitting Lance’s chest insistently. “I love you too. I’ll be there in a bit.”

Keith nodded and took Charlie with him. He settled him in his high chair and set to work on making some omelets. He could hear music from Violet’s room, and he could hear her singing along to it. Her mood had changed significantly since she had become friends with Giselle.

Giselle had come over before with her father and his fiancée. It had been an awkward meeting, full of the same questions Keith and Lance had to answer with Lance’s family and the Garrison when they had returned. The couple was fascinated if slightly confused, but it was a relief for Keith that they weren’t demanding evidence or disgusted by him. He wasn’t sure what he would do if his daughter lost her only friend because people didn’t like him.

Giselle was a kind little girl with a loud personality, and she talked _a lot._ But she was pretty mature for her age, so it worked with Violet, despite the two year difference. Watching Violet play with her had made Keith’s heart swell, and he was willing to do almost anything to get Giselle’s father to let her come over more often. He loved seeing Violet so happy, and Giselle had taken to the twins who had been fascinated by the two large bows she’d had in her hair that day.

Once the omelets were done, Keith called for Violet and Lance came out of the room with Oliver trotting along beside him. “Papi! Papi! Ah-um!” Oliver exclaimed, pointing to his mouth and pretending to eat.

“Yeah, buddy, we’re gonna eat,” Lance said with a chuckle.

“Yah!” Oliver agreed. He let go of Lance hand and went to the high chair beside Charlie’s. “Da-ee! Up! Up!” Keith chucked as he picked him up and strapped him in. “Ari!” he exclaimed happily at the sight of his brother.

Keith gave everyone their food while Lance set out drinks and Violet continued humming to the music she’d been cleaning to. With Charlie and Oliver making a mess of themselves as they ate and Lance and Violet making jokes with each other, Keith couldn’t help but smile. Because this was his family, and he loved it so much. There had been no arguments, no fights, no strains. And things were good.

\---

When Giselle came over, Keith and Lance decided to take them to the park so they could play and run around.

“Mr. Keith, can me and Violet get some popsicles? I got money.” She shuffled in her pocket and pulled out a series of dollar bills.

Keith chuckled and nodded then watched them race off to the ice cream truck handing out popsicles and ice cream to various kids.

“She’s a sweet kid,” Lance said, herding Oliver and Charlie back towards them. They had a bad habit of getting distracted and trying to run off further where Keith and Lance couldn’t see them. “We should take them to get breakfast tomorrow. IHOP or something.”

“Yeah, we can do that,” Keith mused. He looked at Lance as the girls came back, giggling and comparing deformed Spider-Man popsicles. “Are we gonna talk about last night?”

“I don’t want to think about the dream, Keith. Not here, not with the girls.”

Keith put his hand on Lance’s. “I know. I didn’t mean about the dream. I meant the nightmares in general.” Lance frowned. “Do you think… you’d want to see someone? The Garrison said they’d provide psychiatric help if we needed it.”

Lance grimaced and ran a hand through his hair. “Can we talk about that later?” Keith squeezed his hand and nodded.

Violet and Giselle came back, mouths already staining red with their popsicles.

“Alright, when you girls are done with that, you good to go home?”

“Yup!” they said together.

“We’re gonna have a movie night,” Lance said. “And full spa time. Nails, face masks, all of it.”

“You can do nails?” Giselle asked with a laugh and disbelieving wrinkle of her nose.

“Yeah, of course I can! Someone has to, and Vi’s dad never could figure it out.”

Lance gave Keith a teasing smile, and Keith rolled his eyes and smiled. “I like the face masks though.”

“Ugh, Violet I love your dads.”

Violet beamed at that and giggled into her ice cream.

The ride home had been filled with singing and screaming. Keith laughed, reminded again of how good Lance was with kids. When they made it home, Lance suggested ordering pizza, and with the way the girls started jumping up and down and begging for him to say yes, Keith agreed.

While they waited on the pizza, since it wasn’t enough time for doing nails or using face masks, Lance turned on his PlayStation and started showing the girls how to play one of the games. He had two controllers, and eventually relinquished both to them. Violet knew how to play, but Giselle was still learning, and Keith couldn’t help but laugh at the way they talked, slowly getting louder and louder until they were yelling.

Finally, the pizza came and Keith set the boxes on the table. Lance brought out drinks and told the girls to finish up the round they were on so they could eat. They were both excited, asking about what movie they would watch and if they could eat popcorn and make smoothies. It was like they wanted to make this the Ultimate sleepover, and Keith was getting overwhelmed just hearing everything they wanted to do.

“ _Oye, princesa,_ ” Lance said, getting Violet’s attention. “We still need to figure out what to do for your birthday. You want to do another sleepover with Giselle, or should we take you girls somewhere?”

“I dunno,” Violet said, frowning at her food. She shrugged.

“Well,” Lance said slowly, casting a glance at Keith. “We could always make a party at Abuelita’s house. And everyone can meet Giselle. We’ll have a _piñata_ and we could make burgers or fajita. We get a bouncy house for you and your cousins.” Keith clenched his jaw and shut his eyes. He’d been hoping Lance wouldn’t take it there. With the way Violet hesitated, he could tell she had been hoping there wouldn’t be other family members involved either.

“Yeah, okay,” she said, giving Lance a smile.

“Yeah?” Lance asked excitedly. “Your other _tios_ and _tias-”_

“Lance,” Keith said sharply. Violet grimaced as Lance looked over at him. Keith looked at the girls. Violet looked nervous and Giselle looked confused and uncomfortable. “Let’s save this conversation for later, okay?”

A look of frustration passed over Lance’s features before he nodded. “Right.” It got uncomfortably quiet, and Keith wasn’t sure how to fix it. Then Lance said, “Alright girls, so I was thinking we could make a fort for the movie night!”

Giselle lit up and practically bounced in her seat. Violet smiled and nodded too, but she was looking at the two of them uncertainly. Keith gave her a smile and tried to reassure her everything was okay. When the food was done, Lance took the kids to the living room and they pulled the cushions from the couch with help from the twins who squealed with joy at the mess. They brought Violet’s bedsheets and blankets to drape over the cushions, and Keith helped them set up the inside with pillows and their sleeping bags.

Keith had been put in charge of face masks and Lance took to painting the girls’ nails. His hands had always been steadier. Keith liked watching how Lance was with the girls. The way he’d joke with them and pretended to try and get gossip out of them. He kept making Giselle laugh as he insisted on hearing about crushes or mean girls.

“I have a question now,” Giselle said, between fits of laughter. “I don’t have a crush-” Violet giggled which made Keith smirk. “But I wanna know when you got a crush on Mr. Keith.”

Keith laughed and wiped his hands of the face mask he’d finished putting on Violet. “Now there’s a story,” Keith said, arching an eyebrow at Lance.

Lance smiled and hummed, focused on Giselle’s nails. “Well,” he started, “I hated him at first. We went to school together and he was always doing better, and when we went up in space, we would fight a bunch over everything!” Keith chuckled as he recalled those teenage years in which he and Lance disliked each other so much. “Then one day… I made a joke. I can’t remember what it was anymore, but… Keith started laughing. And I mean full on laughing.” Lance’s eyes met his and they shared a soft smile. “And I got the funniest little feeling in my stomach.”

“Butterflies,” Violet whispered, looking at Lance with a wide smile.

Lance looked at her and nodded. “Yeah. Butterflies. And after that…. Everything about him gave me butterflies. If I was close, if he talked to me, if he smiled.”

“Well what about you?” Giselle asked, her wide green eyes on Keith. “When did you get a crush on Mr. Lance?”

Keith laughed nervously and bit his lip. “My crush started….” Keith thought back and tried to pinpoint it. He had no idea when it was. He couldn’t think of the specific moment it started, just… the change that had come. The switch between finding his jokes annoying to endearing. “It just… sort of happened,” Keith said. “Instead of getting angry or picking fights and trying to challenge him, I wanted him to make me laugh. And I wanted him to smile at me. And I wanted us to work together whenever we could. One day, I just felt that I could trust him completely and I wanted to keep him safe. And everything he did made me smile. And if he was upset, I wanted to fix it. It was very new to me because I hadn’t liked anyone like that before. It was a little scary.”

“So how’d you get together?” Violet asked, her chin carefully resting on her knee as she listened. Giselle blew on her nails, but her attention was on both of them.

Keith laughed and pointed to Lance. “You wanna answer that?”

Lance blushed and rolled his eyes. “I confessed,” he said. “I went up to him one night and I told him I liked him, and I kissed him.”

“Mm, nice save,” Keith teased. “He went to my room, tried to compliment me because of the battle we’d had that day, but he ended up insulting me.” Giselle groaned and almost hid her face in her hands before she remembered her face mask. “So I was getting upset and panicked. And I started yelling back. And then Lance decided it would be a good idea to blurt out, ‘I was trying to tell you I like you’ and then run away.”

“You _ran away?”_ Violet shrieked as Giselle howled with laughter. Charlie and Oliver joined, thought Keith knew they had no idea what they were laughing about.

“I panicked!” Lance said.

“I froze,” Keith added. “But then I went to find him to figure out if he meant it. After some confusing mumbling, I told him I liked him too. _Then_ he kissed me.”

“Most awkward first kiss in the history of ever,” Lance snorted. Giselle swooned and Violet giggled. “But it was a perfect way to start the rest of my life with my first and only love.”

“It was a real life true love’s kiss,” Giselle sighed. “It’s so romantic.”

“Speaking of true love’s kiss,” Lance said, climbing out of the fort. “Movie time! Choose a movie and me and Daddy will bring you guys smoothies and popcorn, okay?”

The girls nodded and looked over the movies Lance laid out for them. Keith took the twins to the kitchen to help Lance with the snacks. They were starting to get a little fussy, so Keith knew he’d have to put them to sleep soon. Lance took over the smoothies so Keith could get the bottles and take the boys to bed.

As Keith held them each on his lap and rocked them, he couldn’t help but think of more memories of his earlier years with Lance. He remembered the way they’d been with each other those first few weeks of dating. The awkward smiles and tentative touches. He remembered the first night they spent together, how overwhelming it had been, but how Lance’s embrace had kept him calm.

Then Violet had come along. And Lance had been so excited, so happy. Keith remembered the day he held her for the first time and how completely in love he had felt. He remembered the sense of joy that came from the proposal the following year. The wonder and awe at the wedding, how Keith had felt like the luckiest person in the universe. He remembered the way Lance had looked at him that day. A look Keith would never forget. They’d been young, but more certain of their love and their family than anyone else could ever be.

He reminisced about the time they’d talked about having more kids and how that led to the twins. How patient Lance had been especially near the end of that pregnancy. All those little moments, anniversaries spent staring at stars and shared kisses before and after battles, birthdays, and nights spent with the five of them cozied up together if there had been an especially frightening battle.

Suddenly, he was crying and he had no idea why. He had started crying, and he couldn’t stop. The twins were fast asleep, so Keith tried to calm himself down as best he could with both arms occupied. He managed to get to his feet and hugged the boys close to his chest.

“Okay, we’re okay. It’s okay,” he murmured, shushing them as they fussed. He hummed so they could fall back to sleep as he laid them down in their respective cribs. Then he sat on the floor between them, telling himself he wanted to be sure they wouldn’t wake up.

In reality, he needed a moment to break. He needed a moment where he didn’t have to be strong and fearless. Because he was very scared. All those little moments were gone and Keith couldn’t help but feel like there’d been another shift in his life that he hadn’t even noticed. Much like it had felt to fall in love with Lance, there was a tension now. A reason Keith needed the routine of work, a reason he and Lance had been communicating more with their kids than each other. A reason even his ten year old daughter could feel arguments looming before they happened.

He loved Lance. He truly did. He felt it each time he came home to dinner in the microwave, each time he got into bed and felt Lance curling in closer to him, each time he woke up with Lance’s arm draped over him. He had no doubt about his feelings for Lance.

There just seemed to be so many newer emotions along with it that made Keith feel… overwhelmed.

What was it that made their relationship on Earth so different from the relationship they had on the Castle of Lions if it was still them? If they were still in love?

He got up and took a deep breath before he left the room to find Lance cleaning up the kitchen while the girls watched a movie. Lance was finishing up, and he gave Keith a smile that still managed to give Keith butterflies. Keith walked over to him and took him by the hand, pulling him closer. “I love you.”

“I love you too,” Lance answered softly. “Is this a prelude to a serious conversation? Because that’s what it feels like.” Keith grimaced and shook his head. “I know we still need to talk about the psychologist and… whatever bugs you about my family seeing Violet on her birthday.” Keith clenched his jaw and let out a frustrated breath, biting his tongue. “Right?”

“Yes,” he answered shortly. “But not here.” Keith pulled away and sighed. “Let’s talk in the backyard.” Lance pursed his lips, but he followed Keith. Lance let the girls know they’d be right outside if they needed anything, and Keith tried not to feel like they were about to have the first screaming match since that weekend they spent alone.

Lance went outside and they shut the glass doors before going to the far corner of the backyard so the girls wouldn’t try to eavesdrop near the glass. For a minute they didn’t talk. It was like they were both making the best of those few minutes before they fell back into routine.

But they didn’t have to. They’d been fine. Keith knew it was a matter of how they expressed themselves, and if they could do it calmly, they would be fine. There would be no screaming match.

He took a breath and looked at Lance. “I thought we already talked about your family and Violet’s birthday.”

“Violet’s fine with it, Keith. She said so herself.”

“She doesn’t want to upset you.” Lance scoffed and rolled his eyes. Keith put a hand on his arm to get his attention. “Do you really think she would tell you no to your face if she knew it would upset you, Lance?”

“She deserves a chance to get to know her family, to build a relationship with her cousins-”

“Yes, but you can’t force her into it!”

“I’m not!” Keith crossed his arms. “I’m _not!”_ Lance insisted. “You’re the one that keeps saying not to do it, if she’s hesitant it’s because of _you._ I’m trying to teach her family values, and just because you didn’t have a family doesn’t mean you get to be mad when I try.” Keith felt something in his stomach twist, and he took a step away from Lance, staring at him incredulously. Lance seemed to register what he said and he shut his eyes. “Shit. That came out wrong.”

“No it didn’t,” Keith muttered. “It came out exactly how you meant it to.” He stepped closer, staring Lance in the eyes as he spoke. “No, I didn’t have a family. But I do now, and I will do whatever it takes to protect it. Even from other family members.”

He turned away, fully intending to go inside and go to sleep at the very edge of his bed. He felt a hand at his arm pull him back and Lance grabbed him by the shoulders. “Baby, please, wait.” Keith glared at him and Lance sighed. “Keith…. I have great memories with those cousins. And I lost so much time with them after Voltron. Now I want Violet to experience that like she always wanted, like I always said she could-”

“Yes, Lance, I get that, but Violet isn’t _normal._ She has Galran ears. And they make fun of her for it. She told you herself those kids laugh at her, they make her feel worse. I don’t care if they are your family, they don’t get the greenlight to do that to my daughter.”

“Our family,” Lance corrected, lacing his hand in Keith’s left. “We’re married. Twice. What’s mine is yours times two.” Keith didn’t laugh or smile. It wasn’t time for jokes. “Okay, yes, I get that. But we can’t just hide her from everyone. The rest of the family just needs to get used to it. Like my parents did. They can’t do that if you’re hiding her away like Rapunzel. Maybe it would even help her feel a little more normal once they got used to it.”

Keith huffed and looked at Lance wearily. He could see it in Lance’s eyes, the urgency he had for Keith to agree.

_This doesn’t have to be another fight._

After a moment, Keith took a deep breath. “What if we compromise?” he said. Lance furrowed his eyebrows. “I agree. Violet could feel better if her cousins got used to her, and yes we can encourage her to build those relationships. But not on her birthday. Not on a day meant for her to enjoy.” Lance started to protest, but Keith raised his hand to gesture for Lance to wait. “Let me finish. For her birthday, we do what she wants with the people _she_ wants. Not influenced by you or by me. Then… we can go to one of your cousin’s cookouts, or to one at your parents’ place. That way if things get hectic, we can just come home. But if not, then it’ll give Violet a space to play and get to know them. But that cookout can be any other day.”

Lance sighed and thought it over. “Okay. Yeah. That makes sense.” He looked at Keith and ran his hand along the side of his face. “And I’m sorry about what I said. It was stupid and unnecessary. You’ve been the best father these kids could have, Keith.”

Keith smiled and told himself that was enough to mend their spat. “I had help,” he said softly, leaning in to kiss him lightly. “So about your nightmares?”

The change in subject led to them walking back toward the house. “Right. I think it could help to see someone. At least while they happen. But… I don’t know.”

Keith nodded and smiled. “Think it over. The Garrison provides it. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to keep going. I just don’t want you to struggle with insomnia again.” Lance hummed and leaned into Keith as they walked.

When they got back inside, Violet peeked out from the fort and smiled when she saw them.

“ _Princesa,_ we’re gonna go to sleep, okay? We’ll leave the door open in case you girls need anything.”

Keith walked over to the front door and locked it before kneeling down to say goodnight to the girls. “Remember, don’t open the door _to anyone._ Get us if anyone knocks, no matter who it is.” Violet nodded. “Don’t go to sleep too late.”

“But it’s a sleepover!” Violet said. “We’re supposed to stay up all night.” Keith snorted and ruffled her hair before kissing her forehead.

“If you say so.”

“Goodnight Mr. Keith! Goodnight Mr. Lance!” Giselle said with an awkward little wave.

Lance chuckled. “Goodnight, Giselle. We’ll see you girls in the morning.” He took Keith’s hand and they went to their bedroom, leaving the door open. They could hear the girls giggling and the movie playing, but they didn’t mind the noise.

In fact, to Keith, it was soothing. Not just the lack of silence, but the fact that he knew his little girl would be okay. She had a friend, someone who didn’t tease her for her ears. Someone who was fascinated by her heritage instead of weirded out by it. He was beyond ecstatic that Giselle had come into Violet’s life.

That night, he fell asleep with Lance’s arm wrapped tightly around him. It was hot, but Keith didn’t care. He liked the feeling of Lance being near.

***

The sound of the twins’ screeching was slowly starting to drive Lance crazy. He had patience when it came to the kids, he was good with kids. But today was just not a good day.

Every little thing was causing one or the other to starts screaming at the other or in frustration because Lance didn’t give them what they wanted. For the first time, Lance felt himself truly running out of patience.

“Charlie, please stop screaming,” Lance said as calmly as he could. “What do you want? The banana?”

“No!”

“The spoon?” Lance asked, picking it up, trying to ignore Oliver screaming for his attention.

“No!” Charlie wailed, promptly crying profusely.

“What? What do you want? _Sopa?”_ Charlie shrieked again and shook his head. Lance was getting a headache. Charlie pointed, grunting insistently as he shouted for Lance’s attention. “The… the salt?” Lance asked, pointing. The crying stopped and Charlie’s face lit up, his hand out expectantly. “You’re not getting the salt, Charlie. That’s not good for you.”

Lance pushed the salt shaker away and Charlie let out a screech that made Lance have to take a step away and cover his ears. Oliver followed suit, screaming, “Papi! Papi! Papa!”

In their tantrums, they ended up kicking at the table, shoving it back with their feet. A scraping sound assaulted Lance’s ears, followed by the shatter of a vase they’d gotten the day of their Earth marriage. On top of the screams, Lance started to panic.

He felt overwhelmed. He hadn’t slept well. And the sounds of screaming children made him think back to the several battles waged when he was part of Voltron. Most of their battles had been out in vastness of space in their lions, but there had been the occasional battle on a planet. Planets filled with families screaming and running for cover, followed by the wails of mourners trying to shove rubble off their dead.

Lance couldn’t breathe. The memories were vivid in his mind, the sounds of his own home making it worse.

Suddenly, Lance felt hands against his face and he opened his eyes to see Violet, but he was struggling to hear what she was saying.

Finally her voice cut through. “Papi! Papito, what’s wrong? What’s happening? Papi?”

Lance swallowed and rubbed his face, intending to reassure her. Then he saw how viciously his hands were shaking. He realized how lightheaded he felt from hyperventilating. “N-nothing. Take your brothers, _mi princesa,_ please. Take them… to the backyard. So they’ll stop crying.”

“O-okay,” she said. She got up from the floor and unstrapped the boys, quickly taking them outside.

Meanwhile, Lance stared at his ceiling and tried to regain control of himself. He was a father. He couldn’t do this. He couldn’t lose himself like this. And for Violet to come home and find him-

God, Lance didn’t know what to do. He moved his hand toward his back. There, in the middle left side, he could still feel the scar tissue. The ghost pain that had gone away for two years was back. He swore he could feel the blade there, he swore it felt fresh. But he knew it wasn’t. He knew it had been healed almost immediately by the cryopods.

Just like he knew he was safe now. There were no more empires or diabolical alien rulers coming for them. No more witches. No more battles. He was safe in a home with his children.

Still, that was barely enough to calm him down. He wanted Keith home. He wanted Keith back to soothe him and hold him and reassure him. He wanted Keith to take over when Lance was breaking and falling apart so Violet wouldn’t have to see or know.

But Keith was working. And he would be working until late, just like he’d been doing the last few weeks in order to get them in a place where they could spend on recreational things and not struggle when Keith took a week off for Violet.

Lance got up and splashed his face with water from the kitchen sink. He did his best to get the shaking under control before going out to the yard where Violet was chasing Oliver and Charlie around. When she saw Lance, she stopped and her face switched to one of worry.

She walked over to him and frowned. “Papi, are you okay? What happened?”

The boys followed her and Lance lifted Charlie onto his lap while Violet sat Oliver on hers. “I’m okay. Just… a lot of memories from the war are coming back. It won’t last, I’ll be okay. Thank you for helping.” Violet gave him a feeble smile. “Vi, could you do me a favor?” She nodded. “Don’t tell Daddy about this. I don’t want him to worry.”

“But what if I’m not here and you get like that, what-”

Lance chuckled and wrapped his daughter in a hug. “ _Ay, mi_ _niña, tu eres un angel.”_ He pulled back and tucked her hair behind her furry purple ear. “I’ll be okay. I’ll talk to him. I just don’t want him to know you saw me like that. Can we keep this between us?”

She frowned. “You promise you’ll tell Daddy you’re getting flashbacks?” Lance nodded. “Okay, Papa. I won’t say anything.”

Lance smiled and kissed her forehead. “Thank you. Did you have a good day at school today?” She nodded. “Well, your birthday’s almost here. Did you decide what you want to do? We could have Giselle over.” Violet hesitated. “And you don’t have to invite your cousins.”

Violet grimaced sheepishly. “I just want to have burgers or something and have my abuelitos come over. I know Uncle Shiro and Aunt ‘Lura and Nino can’t come anymore but Aunt Pidge and Uncle Hunk could.. And Tia Vero, Tio Marco, and Tio Luis. And Giselle.” Lance nodded. “Could we get a trampoline instead of a bouncy house? I’m too big for bouncy houses.”

Lance laughed aloud and nodded. “Okay, yeah. We can rent a trampoline. We can also get a karaoke machine if you want?” Violet’s eyes lit up with excitement. “I’ll tell Dad when he gets home. And Vi?” She hummed, distracted because she was making faces at Oliver. “I’m sorry if I made you feel like you had to invite your cousins. I want you to want to see your family, but I don’t want to force you to see them. Especially on a day that’s supposed to be for you.” Violet nodded and shrugged, her mouth scrunching off to one side in a careless wince.

“It’s okay, Papa.”

\---

Later that night, once the twins had gone to sleep, Lance began to play a game on his PlayStation to distract himself. He could feel the heaviness of his eyelids, but he was terrified of what would be behind them. He focused instead of the CGI soccer players, his fingers moving almost of their own accord.

He stayed there for hours until he heard the engine of Keith’s car. Then the keys in the lock. Then the door opened.

“What are you doing up?” Keith asked, surprised.

“Playing,” Lance said simply.

“Okay… well, what’d you make for dinner?”

“Nothing. Violet ate cereal and the boys didn’t want to eat anything. They’ve been picky all day.”

It was quiet for a moment. Keith sat beside him and scratched his head. “Charlie and Oliver didn’t eat today?”

Something about his tone made Lance tense. “Not much,” he said carefully. “I made food. I offered them food. They would throw it or just drop it on the floor.”

Keith hummed and stood up again. Lance refocused on his game. He knew he had to tell Keith about earlier that day. The thing was he didn’t know how without making Keith think he was just a bad father.

“Alright, well, I’m going to bed,” Keith said. Lance was expecting a touch on the shoulder, a hand running through his hair, something that would tell him to turn for goodnight kiss.

Instead, all he heard was the click of a door shutting softly. Lance bit his lip and kept playing. He wanted to play until he was too exhausted to dream.

He hadn’t realized how much time had passed before he felt a hand on his shoulder. He jumped and dropped the controller with a gasp.

“Whoa, easy,” Keith croaked with a sleep-ridden voice. “Lance, it’s almost four in the morning. Come to bed.”

Lance rubbed his eyes and sighed. “Why are you awake?”

“I woke up for a bit and realized you weren’t there. Then I heard the game. Come on.” Lance hesitated and grabbed his controller. “Lance,” Keith said sternly. “You’re not a teenager I need to be reprimanding. Let’s go to sleep and-”

“I don’t want to sleep!” he snapped. He rubbed his eyes again and turned the game console off quickly, throwing the controller aside in frustration. Keith said his name wearily, and Lance turned to him. “What? I fucking shut it off.”

“Easy.”

“Jesus fuck.” Keith narrowed his eyes. “I don’t want to sleep, Keith. I don’t want to go to bed. I don’t want to dream. Okay? I-I want you to come home when you’re supposed to so I’m not fucking terrified. I want you to come home and ask if I was okay, not just about the twins, not just for dinner.” Confusion began to coat Keith’s features, but Lance was already rambling. “I don’t want you talking to me like a little kid, I want you to notice if something’s wrong, I want you to realize without me telling you that I haven’t been able to sleep for the last couple days and I want you to just-” Lance let his arms fall to his sides uselessly, not sure what he wanted from Keith.

Once he’d been quiet for a while, Keith walked around the couch and stood in front of him. “I know something’s wrong. I told you to ask about the therapy, and you don’t want to. I don’t want to keep pushing you to do something you don’t want to do, so I can’t… I can’t do anything.” Lance scoffed and walked away from him. He felt Keith’s hand close around his wrist to stop him. “Lance, I’m only working this much so I can relax for a whole week with you and the kids. Tomorr- well, today’s my last day before my break.”

Lance pulled his hand free and went to the kitchen to grab a glass of water. “Yeah, okay.” It was quiet and Lance figured Keith had gone back to bed. But when he turned around, he gasped and nearly dropped his water when he saw his husband waiting. “For fuck’s sake,” he breathed, trying to get a grip on himself.

Keith’s eyebrows furrowed together and he walked toward him. “Lance? Baby, you’re safe now.” Keith pried the cup from his hands and wrapped his arms around him. “You’re safe with me, okay?”

Lance nodded and hid his face in the crook of Keith’s neck, letting himself close his eyes. “I’m sorry,” Lance mumbled. “I’m so sorry. I know you’re working for us, and I know you’re doing everything you can. I’m sorry.” Keith hushed him gently. “I just miss you.”

“I’m right here,” Keith promised. “Come on, come to bed with me. Get a little rest.” Keith pulled away and kept his hand in Lance’s, leading him to the bedroom.

Lance wrapped his arms around Keith as he laid down, comforted by his soft breaths against his collarbone. He swallowed back his fear and let himself fall asleep. While he dreamed of war, he didn’t dream long enough for it to wake him up in a panic.

Instead, he woke up to Violet and the twins coming into his room asking for breakfast. And an empty bed.

-

Violet’s birthday was in a few days, but Lance wanted to make her party on the weekend so she wouldn’t have to miss school. He got to work on looking for the trampoline she wanted and called his mom and siblings to invite them over as well as Hunk and Pidge. When Violet got out of school, he went grocery shopping to get all the things for the cookout along with any snacks or candies she might want.

When they got home, Lance put on a movie in hopes of entertaining the twins for a while so he could try and catch up on sleep. All day he’d felt slow sluggish. He’d only slept three hours since he had to take Violet to school and the twins hadn’t taken their usual nap. Still, Lance hadn’t managed much sleep because he kept having nightmares of familiar, evil voices and his kids being kidnapped. He jerked awake four times before he gave up on trying to sleep.

That day, Keith got home earlier. The twins saw him and shrieked excitedly, rushing over to hug his legs. Violet came out of her room and nearly jumped onto him.

“Whoa! Hey!” Keith said with a laugh. “Oh, this is a nice greeting. Where’s Papi?” Charlie ran over to the couch and pointed to Lance. “Babe? You okay?”

“Uh-huh,” he answered. He got up and stretched, giving Keith a smile. “This is a nice surprise.”

Keith kissed him and smiled back. “Yeah? I knew you’d be tired, so I figured I could come home earlier. And now I get to spend all week with you.” He turned to Violet and she jumped back onto him. “And I also get to spend all week with my gorgeous birthday girl!”

Violet giggled and hugged him tightly. “I’m so excited!”

She hopped off and laid on the couch, taking her chance to change the channel when Lance got up. Lance followed Keith over to the kitchen as he went to find a soda. “You tired? Why don’t you go to bed?” Lance shook his head and stretched. “What’s all this? You went grocery shopping?”

“Yeah. Vi wants burgers for her birthday.” Keith nodded and grabbed a soda can. “She also wanted a trampoline so I rented one. Here’s the info.” Lance gave him a piece of paper where he jotted down the spending, the time, and the name of the person he spoke to on the phone.

“A trampoline and a karaoke machine?” Keith asked. He arched an eyebrow and pursed his lips.

Lance groaned. “What? What’s with the face?”

“I didn’t say anything,” he said defensively.

“Not vocally.”

Keith rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Relax. So burger, a trampoline, and karaoke. She invited Giselle, I’m assuming?”

“Yeah. Hunk, Pidge, and my parents and siblings. That was all. I can make the burgers on the grill and the trampoline and karaoke can be set up in the backyard.” Keith nodded as he drank from his soda and stared at the paper Lance gave him. “Jesus, Keith, yes I took our bills into consideration, the light, the gas, the water, we’re fine.”

“Babe, I didn’t say anything! I believe you, calm down.” Lance rubbed his face and crossed his arms. “Lance, go to sleep. You’re cranky and tired. I can do dinner tonight.”

“I don’t-” Lance sighed, knowing his words would go in one ear and out the other. “Yeah, okay.” He walked away and went into their room. He laid in bed, but he wouldn’t let himself sleep. Not when he knew what his unconscious would show him.

\---

Having his husband home for the week was a nice change for the most part. It was nice waking up and seeing Keith there across from him, sleeping soundly. It was nice to spend the day lounging in bed with him until lunchtime when they’d tidy up and make lunch and wait for Violet to get out of school. Taking care of the twins wasn’t so stressful because Keith was there to handle one while Lance handled the other. It was nice being able to have a couple hours of the day to themselves when the twins fell asleep.

But it was also stressful because Lance couldn’t hide the fact that he wasn’t sleeping well. He couldn’t hide the impatience he felt when the twins got too loud for his sleep-deprived mind which Keith saw as an exaggeration because he was barely home.

But now it was Thursday, and it was Violet’s birthday. Keith had gone to get a cake with Violet so they could sing happy birthday, and Lance had ordered from Violet’s favorite wing place. Lance was home with the boys, waiting on Keith to come back as he opened the boxes of wings and fries.

When they arrived, Lance noticed that Keith looked a little stressed, but he wasn’t sure why. He didn’t think it was the takeout because it had been Keith’s idea to begin with. But it was Violet’s birthday, and he didn’t want to poke at stressful situations or get into whispered arguments. She was smart kid, and he knew she would notice even if they tried to hide it from her.

So they ate. And they listened to Violet talk about her classes. And they kept the twins from getting too messy. And they brought out the cake to sing happy birthday. And took pictures of Violet. Then sent her bed because she still had school the next day. Keith bathed the twins and disappeared to put them to bed. Lance cleaned up the mess from dinner and when that was done, he started playing another game.

A while later, Keith came back and shut the console off mid-game. “What the hell?” Lance snapped. He wasn’t so much angry that he’d been playing, but the fact that Keith had hardly talked to him since he got back and simply decided to disconnect the game instead of asking Lance to pause it. “What was that for?”

“We need to talk.” Lance stared at him, and Keith gestured to the door. “Outside. The last thing I need is for the kids to wake up.”

Lance scoffed and got up to follow him outside. They got into Keith’s car and stared at the front of their house for a while. “What the hell happened?”

“Why didn’t you tell me you’ve been getting panic attacks in the middle of the day?” Keith asked in a flat voice. Lance frowned, unsure of what he meant. “Why didn’t you tell me… you can’t handle watching the boys?” Keith finally turned to look at him, his face bathed in moonlight. “Why do I have to hear it from my concerned, eleven-year-old daughter?”

Lance clenched his jaw and ran a hand through his hair. “I can handle taking care of my sons,” he muttered. “And she’s my daughter too. What did she tell you?”

“Why don’t you tell me?” Keith snapped.

Lance looked over at him and glared. “I freaked out for a second, okay? It happened once; it doesn’t mean I can’t handle my kids. Violet freaked a little, but I was fine-”

“You told her not to tell me!” Keith yelled.

“Because you don’t listen!” Lance yelled back. “Because no matter how many times I tell you I can’t sleep or I don’t want to, it just seems so easy to you. Just send me to sleep every time I get a little frustrated, because you’re not the one with the fucking nightmares!”

“They would go away if you-”

“No they won’t!” Lance shouted, hitting the dashboard. “Fuck. Keith, come on. I don’t want a fucking psychologist because I _know_ what’s wrong with me. I know I’m traumatized, I know that…. Talking about this shit with someone isn’t going to make the nightmares stop. I don’t want to be given medication meant to numb my brain until I sleep. These aren’t stopping until I make it past the fucking cycle. What I want is to be comforted by my husband, to be with my family, not have my brain picked at by a stranger telling me I’ll be okay!”

“What happens if the next time you panic, you hurt Charlie or Oliver?” Keith said in a quiet voice. “What, I’m supposed to come home and shrug and say it’s fine because you’re having a hard time?”

“I’m not going to hurt them.”

“You don’t know that.” Keith sniffed and ran his hands through his hair. “God, Lance. You think you’re the only one traumatized? I was in the war with you. I jump when I hear certain ringtones and alarms because they sound like the sirens in the Castle. I have to stop and breathe when the construction workers next door are a little too loud demolishing shit because it sounds like the blasters. I’m there with you. I get nightmares too. But you’re…. You’re losing sleep. You’re having these panic attacks and flashbacks in the middle of the day when you’re alone with the kids-”

“Maybe if you stayed home I wouldn’t be alone.”

The change in Keith’s face was immediate, and it made Lance’s stomach churn. “Goddammit. This again?” he hissed.

“I-I know you want to provide for us, Keith, but…. God, I don’t care about how much money we have or how many luxuries we can afford. I just want you here with us like you’ve been this week-”

“You’re the one always talking about giving the kids more than what we had!” Keith exclaimed. “For fuck’s sake make up your mind! I don’t _like_ being home all day, Lance, I need to be doing something. Working gives me a routine, and it gives me the chance to give the kids things they need _and_ things they want. And even then we’re still barely making it because we spend on so many pointless things-”

“Alright! Whatever. You’ll go right back to work Monday and it’ll be the same as ever,” Lance muttered. “The nightmares will stop soon. We’ll just go right back to normal.”

Keith didn’t say anything to that. Lance wasn’t sure if he expected him to. But he knew what he didn’t expect was for Keith to get out of the car and leave him alone. Lance stared at the dash for a moment, feeling sick to his stomach. Then he got out of the car, manually locking it before he went back into the house.

Keith wasn’t in bed. Lance could hear the shower running. He watched TV in the living room until he heard the door to the bathroom open and shut, then the click of the door to the bedroom. Knowing Keith was going to bed, Lance turned on the console again and started playing the game until his eyelids got too heavy.

He went to his room and got into bed, facing Keith’s back. With a sigh, Lance turned around and kept his eyes open until they closed of their own accord.

\---

The day of Violet’s birthday party had brought a surprise for everyone.

Lance’s family had been in the backyard. Giselle and Violet were on the trampoline while the twins stayed with their grandparents. Lance had been setting up the karaoke machine while Lance started the grill.

Then the door to the backyard opened and they heard Pidge call out, “I have a special delivery for a special birthday girl!”

Lance looked over and smiled at the sight of Pidge and Hunk waving.

Violet hopped off the trampoline and raced over to hug them with Giselle in tow. But before she could reach them, Hunk and Pidge stepped forward and a few more people walked out.

Violet froze at the sight of Allura, Coran, and Shiro. Hell, even Lance stopped moving at the sight of them.

“Oh my God!” Violet shrieked before she raced forward, tears running down her face as she collided with Allura. “You’re here! You’re really here!”

“Keith!” Lance called. Keith pulled himself away from the karaoke machine and came to an abrupt halt when he saw the new guests. Violet was holding onto them like her life depended on it. When Shiro managed to pry himself away, Keith immediately took Violet’s place. Lance noticed his hands shaking, but he decided to give them a moment.

He couldn’t believe it’d been so long since he saw the Alteans. And finally having a chance to hug them again felt surreal. A painful knot in his throat kept from being able to even give them a greeting. Violet was sobbing, refusing to let go of Coran, going on about how much she’d missed them, about how happy she was they were here.

“How did you guys get here?” Lance finally managed to ask when he convinced himself they were real.

Allura smiled. “Hunk and Pidge told the commander at the Garrison. He contacted Shiro and Shiro contacted us. We missed her last birthday. We didn’t want to miss another. We’ve miss you all terribly.”

“We’ve missed you guys too,” Lance said, his voice breaking.

“Where are the boys?” Coran asked, wiping at his eyes and  running his hand through Violet’s hair.

Keith came over with the twins, one in each hand. Allura gasped and fell to her knees. “Oh they’re so big! They grew so quickly, I can’t believe it!” She reached out to tousle Oliver’s hair and Ollie tilted his head questioningly. “They’re beautiful.”

Keith knelt down and nudged the twins over. “That’s your aunt Allura. And Nino and Uncle Shiro. Give them hugs.” Oliver did, though a bit shyly. Charlie on the other hand stayed put, his eyes flickering over to Violet. Only when he saw the tuft of white hair on Shiro did Charlie step forward and engage in his curiosity.

“Guys, guys! This is my best friend, Giselle!” Violet took Giselle’s hand. “Giselle, these are all my aunts and uncles. They’re Alteans. An alien race.”

“No way!” Giselle said, eyes widening at the sight of them. “But they look so human.”

“Yeah, they have marking and can shapeshift. Right Aunt ‘Lura?”

Allura smiled and closed her eyes. She began to shapeshift until she was taller and purple, the marks on her face glowing. “How’s this?”

Giselle stared in awe before shrieking, “Freaking awesome!”

Lance went ahead and introduced his family to everyone before starting on the burgers. Violet and Giselle had Allura and Coran jump on the trampoline. Charlie stayed with Shiro, refusing to go with anyone else. Oliver sat by them and watched as Lance’s family sang along to karaoke with Pidge and Hunk.

Then Hunk joined him at the grill, smiling at him. “I can’t believe you guys got them to come. Violet’s missed them so much. She’s the happiest I’ve ever seen her,” Lance said with a grateful smile.

“Of course. It helps to have connections.” Lance laughed. Hunk nudged him and looked at him carefully. “Are you okay, man?” Lance frowned and nodded. “You just… you don’t look well…. You look exhausted.”

“Um, thanks?” Lance muttered uncomfortably.

Hunk sighed. “That’s not what I meant. Lance, there’s bags under your eyes. You look skittish.”

“Yeah, no, I’m okay. Just nightmares, but it’s okay. I’m working through it.”

Hunk frowned and nodded before offering to help with the burgers. “How are you and Keith? Things going better?”

“It bugs Keith to talk about our relationship issues to other people,” Lance said with a humorless smile. Hunk raised his eyebrows and winced. “We’re okay. I just need to get through the nightmares and… he’s going back to his original work schedule.” Hunk nodded, giving Lance a reassuring smile that had the opposite effect. “Is it that obvious we’re struggling?”

Hunk looked at him and hesitated. “No. I mean, I’m your best friend, I’ve known you guys forever. And we’d talked before, so…. You guys are fine.” Lance hummed and grimaced, looking out at the party. People were singing and laughing and dancing. His whole family was together again.

Still, he felt hollow.

Violet raced up to him and wrapped her arms around him. “Papi, this is the best day of my life!” She smiled widely then returned to get Giselle as they went to find a song to sing on the karaoke.

***

Ever since Giselle had become her friend, the bullying at school wasn’t so horrible. It wasn’t to say it stopped happening. It was just easier to ignore it or move on with Giselle at her side ready to defend her too. Violet didn’t feel so lonely now that she had someone to hang out with.

Having Giselle around helped a lot, especially after Aunt Allura and Nino had to leave. She had missed them so much, and she did her best to hold on to the joy that had come from getting to spend a weekend with them.

“Vi, come on if we hurry Mrs. Singfiel will let us sit in the front.”

“Every time I sit in the front my hair ends up full of spitballs,” Violet groaned.

“Yeah, but today’s movie day. Come on, I’ll help you get them out at the end of class.”

Violet rolled her eyes and hurried through the halls with Giselle until they made it to their science class. Their teacher smiled as they rushed into the class. “You girls are here early.”

“We wanted front row seats,” Violet said. “What movie are we watching?”

“Today’s movie is getting pushed back. We have a guest speaker coming in today.” Violet and Giselle frowned at each other and took their seats.

The classroom filled up just before the bell rang. Violet kept running her hand through her hair to be sure nothing had been thrown into it, then again to fix it over her ears. Once the bell rang, Mrs. Singfiel went to the front of the classroom and greeted the class in that happy, bright way she always did.

“How many of you like flying?” A few people raised their hands. “What about building things? Or computers? Or space?”

“The class pet likes space!” Violet scowled at the familiar voice from the back of the classroom.

“I’m not a pet!” Violet growled, turning around to glare at Joey Mitchel. Giselle nudged her to get her attention back.

“Joey, you know teasing isn’t tolerated in this class. And you just cost yourself the fun activity we have for today.” Mrs. Singfiel gave Violet a sad smile. Then she turned to the class and said, “Today we’re going to be hearing about the Galaxy Garrison from one of their very own pilots! Please be respectful and pay attention.” She walked over to the door and Violet turned in her chair to see who would be coming in. It was someone she didn’t know. A girl with dark hair pulled up into a ponytail and pale skin. “Class, this is Sergeant Bloom.”

“Have you really flown into space?” someone asked.

Sergeant Bloom smiled. “Yes, I have. Has anyone here heard of the Galaxy Garrison?” Giselle nudged Violet, but Violet shook her head. “Well, the Garrison is meant to help train people to become astroexplorers. If you’re good at math and science, there’s likely a place for you at the Garrison if you’re willing to work hard.”

“You mean we can fly into space too?”

The girl beside Violet leaned over. “Hey, alien, looks like they’re phoning for you.” Violet clenched her fists and kept her mouth shut.

“Yes, you can! You have to train extensively to become a pilot. But not only pilots make it out to space. We have engineers, computer programmers, technicians, and scientists. Recently, we’ve also been looking into space militia. Like the army, but in space.”

“Like _Star Wars?”_ one boy asked.

Sergeant Bloom laughed. “Something like that. The Garrison allows students to enroll in the program from ages 12 and up. You won’t be able to fly a spaceship yet, but you’ll undergo the training and learn quicker than anyone signing up for the flight classes at an older age. If you want to be engineers or computer programmers or communication specialists, then it’s even better to enroll now. You’ll take math and science and physical development classes. How many of you would be interested?” No one raised their hands, but Violet was looking at the pamphlet Mrs. Singfiel had passed out.

She knew all of the information. She knew the basics even. She’d been helping with battle plans since she was seven with Voltron. Aunt Pidge had taught her how to encrypt and decrypt codes. Uncle Hunk had taught her how to repair the lions, it couldn’t be harder than fixing a spaceship. And she had piloting in her blood. The Garrison was her roots. Her parents, her whole family was from there.

She wouldn’t just be the alien at the Garrison. She’d be a legacy.

“And what if I said you could try out our very own piloting simulator?” Sergeant Bloom asked. Every hand in class went up except Violet’s.

The class was made to line up and follow Mrs. Singfiel to the running field near the gym. She was in the back of the line, watching her classmates on the try the simulator. The sight of stars and asteroid belts and vast darkness with sporadic lights from farther galaxies made her stomach twist with homesickness. It was so familiar, and yet nothing like the real thing.

No one had teased her yet, too focused on the simulation and being allowed to try since Joey was a prime example of what happened otherwise. But the more kids failed the simulation, the more they looked over at her and noticed the way she fidgeted to keep from going next.

“Relax, Chewbacca, it’s not a real ship. It won’t take you home,” one girl said. The rest of her friends giggled.

It wasn’t long before everyone had gone. Nearly everyone had lost by the fourth level. Her class knew she was the only one left.

“Aren’t you gonna go?” Giselle asked.

Violet stared at the simulator and at Sergeant Bloom who was looking at her in confusion.

“Come on, she’s been saying she’s from space since last year, and now she’s scared of a video game?” one boy said. “Loser.”

Violet turned to Giselle. “Can I borrow your scrunchie?” Giselle handed her purple scrunchie over. Violet walked forward, pulling her hair up. She heard the whispers of her ears. She saw Sergeant Bloom’s shock at the sight of them. Then she sat in the pilot seat and waited as it gauged her size and weight before positioning itself for her. She grabbed the shifts and pressed the button to start.

Her mind zeroed in on the screen. She wasn’t surrounded by her classmates. She was in a lion. She was out in space doing what her fathers had done, and she knew how to do it. Getting through the asteroid belt had been easy. Maneuvering around debris was second nature to her. She knew what was coming before it did, that instinct that had often helped her aunts, uncles, and fathers reigniting for her.

When she got to level six, the chair shifted. It began to shudder, mimicking the movements a real ship would make. She swooped easily between the blockage that the simulator created, was able to mimic Papa’s famous move in spinning through a tight spot before leveling out and then later recreating Dad’s famous tight turns before soaring up.

She couldn’t help but smile as she got further and further into the simulation. She laughed as it got harder. Now it wasn’t just a matter of flying around objects. Now she got to fight.

“Incredible,” she heard the Sergeant mumble as she came up behind the chair. Violet smirked. Her ears flattened against her skull as she scowled and unleashed an attack on the enemy ships, maneuvering between beams and missiles.

She nearly lost at level 15, but she managed to pull back and dip her ship down like Aunt Pidge always said to do to throw off the enemy when you were attacking- they never expected a fall back so sudden, much less the upcoming attack once she got her bearings.

The screen flashed with the words _Simulation Completed._

Violet hopped off the chair and took the scrunchie out to give it back to Giselle. Giselle stared at the screen then at Violet. Then suddenly her arms were around Violet and Giselle was laughing. “My best friend is so cool!”

Violet laughed and blushed. Sergeant Bloom walked over to her and smiled at her. “That was… amazing. No one who wasn’t enrolled in the Garrison has ever been able to finish that simulation, much less on the first try.” Violet smiled. “The ears? Have you… flown?”

Violet shook her head. “No, ma’am. My parents did. My aunt was a communications specialist and my uncle was an engineer, so I know some of that, but I never got a chance to pilot. I just watched them.”

“Fighter or cargo?”

“I guess you could say fighter,” Violet said with a smile.

“What’s your name?”

“Violet Kogane-McClain, ma’am.”

Sergeant Bloom stared at her, her mouth opening like she wanted to say something before she shut it. Then she smiled and pulled Violet away from the rest of the class. “ _You’re_ the daughter of the paladins?” She nodded. “Do they know?” She shook her head.

“The Garrison said not to talk about Voltron or the war with anyone that wasn’t immediate family. They have something in my file that keeps teachers quiet, but the students are mean. I’m used to it though.”

“You would be an amazing recruit for the Garrison. You practically have guaranteed admission, cadet.”

Violet’s eyes widened. “Really?” She nodded. “But I’m not twelve yet. I just turned eleven two weeks ago.”

Sergeant Bloom winked. “I’m positive we can work something out. But we do need your parents’ permission so-” She pulled out a packet from the large folder in her hand and gave it to Violet. “Have them fill this out and get it back to your teacher. When we get it back, you’ll have an entry test to figure out your skills and you’ll get placed in a class that fits your intelligence and age group. Most likely, you’ll end up in the advanced class with other legacies your age.”

“O-okay. Thank you,” Violet said with a smile. She stared at the packet and could already imagine herself in the orange and white uniform. Just like her parents. For once, she’d feel like she belonged somewhere on Earth.

\---

That day when Violet got home, she was practically bouncing with excitement. The bullying had practically disappeared for the day after Violet had completed the simulation. Giselle said she wanted to enroll too, so Violet was imagining what it would be like going to the Garrison with her _best friend._ Or to have Aunt Pidge or Uncle Hunk teaching one of her classes. Being known as the girl who’s been in space already and for it to be seen as cool instead of weird. The Garrison would be full of people like Giselle who were fascinated by space. Which meant the bullying would stop and she would be another student among many.

“ _Hola, princesita, como te fue?”_

Violet smiled and went to hug her papa where he sat at the table feeding the twins. “It was awesome! You’ll never believe what happened. But I’m gonna wait for Daddy to come home to tell you.”

“Ooh, sounds exciting. Can I guess?” Violet shook her head. “What are you hiding, _traviesita?”_

Violet laughed and grabbed some food for herself and another plate for Papa. Eating with Papa was one of Violet’s favorite things because he always made her laugh. He always found something to joke about and they had a running joke about being the paparazzi for Charlie and Ollie, narrating their every moves. At least until Ollie got aggravated and started swiping at them to get away.

When they finished eating, they sat at the couch and watched TV for a while until she heard the engine of a car. She got up and looked through the window, smiling when she saw her dad’s car coming into the driveway. “Daddy’s home, Papa!” She ran to her room to get her backpack and pull out her application packet.

She heard the door open and then Charlie and Oliver screaming for Daddy. She heard laughter and went out with her hands behind her back.

“-says she has a surprise for us,” Papa was saying.

“Oh?” Dad looked over at her and smiled. “Hey, munchkin. What’s the big surprise?”

Violet stood in front of them with a wide smile. “ _Well,_ today a lady came to talk to our science class and guess what?” Her fathers looked at each other with amusement then at her. “She was from the Garrison! She came and talked to us, and I already knew the stuff, but then she had a simulator for a ship! And everyone failed, but then I went last and they were making fun of me but guess what? I was the only one to finish it! The lady figured out who I was and she said I was basically already admitted! You guys just have to fill this out!” She revealed the packet and smiled up at them.

But the expressions on their faces made her excitement disappear almost immediately.

Papa took the packet and flipped through it. “What? No. No way.”

Dad pulled out a chair and sat down. “Vi…. You want to go to the Garrison?”

She looked between them and her ears started flicking nervously. “Well… yeah.”

“Why?” That was Papa. He sounded angry. “We spent so long trying to come back to Earth and now you want to go and… be at this place?”

Violet felt a mixture of fear and anger bubbling in her, but she wasn’t sure which she wanted to indulge, so she tried to keep herself calm. “I wanna go to the Garrison because I’d fit in. They’d know who I am, I wouldn’t get bullied all the time. I’m good at it! Aunt Pidge taught me about the codes, Uncle Hunk taught me the machinery. I can speak in three alien languages! The Garrison is the perfect place for me and what I can do!”

“No! No, you’re not going there!” Papa shouted. Charlie and Oliver froze on the floor where they were playing with some toys.

“Lance, calm down,” her dad said. He looked at Violet and sighed. “Violet, that school… you know it means you wouldn’t live with us anymore, right? And you’re only eleven. You have a whole year to think-”

“I don’t need to think!” she snapped. “Sergeant Bloom said I could be let in anyway. I thought you’d be proud of me. I’m the first person ever to beat the simulation on the first try!”

“Sweetheart, that _is_ amazing,” Daddy said. “But you have to understand, a lot of things happened to us at the Garrison. The last thing we wanted was for you-”

“You already went! This is my choice, not yours!” she shouted.

“Violet, _lower you voice,”_ Papa said, giving her an angry look. “You’re scaring your brothers. You’re not going to that school.”

He reached for the application on the table, but Violet lunged forward and snatched it away. “No!” she shrieked. “You’re not taking it!”

“ _Violeta Esperanza vas a estar castigada!”_

“Fine! Ground me! I don’t care!” She scowled and stomped her foot. “I want to go to the Garrison! I’d be good at it! People wouldn’t think my ears are weird there! Space was my home, and just because you guys want to pretend space never happened, it doesn’t mean I do!”

Daddy got up from the chair and held out his hand. “Give me the application, Violet.” Violet looked at him, clutching the packet closer. “When’s the deadline?”

“She just said to give it to Mrs. Singfiel when you filled it out,” she said softly.

He nodded. “Okay. We’re gonna talk about it. No more screaming. Give me the application. Let’s give this a week, okay?”

“Are you lying to me?” Violet asked, tears already beginning to streak down her face.

Daddy knelt down and tucked her hair behind her ear. “I’d never lie to you, Vi.” She sniffed and gave him the wrinkled packet. “Go to your room. Take your brothers.”

Her stomach flipped at that, but she did as she was told. She gave the boys some of her old toys to entertain them then cracked the door open.

“-me the fucking bad guy, huh?”

“That’s not what I’m doing,” Daddy said.

“We’re not letting her go there.”

“Why not?” Violet chewed on her lip. “She wants to go. It’s safe there. She’s not going to go AWOL like we did. There’s no war to worry about-”

“When we came home, I thought it meant we could leave the Garrison behind us,” Papa said. Violet carefully opened the door a little more to try and peek out into the dining room. “She’s supposed to make her life here, Keith.”

“Her going to the Garrison doesn’t mean she’s gonna leave and live on Pluto, Lance! She’s not trying to leave us, she’s trying to find her place! And she’s right, she’d be a great pilot or specialist or whatever the fuck she wants to fucking be. She has experience, she knows the languages, she was born in space! How could we have ever expected her to not want to be part of the Garrison?”

“After all the shit that came from that fucking place-”

“You met me there. We were there when we found out about Voltron.”

“And we got sucked into space for over a decade,” Papa hissed.

It was quiet for a while. “We fell in love. We had… we had Violet and we got married and we had kids. Lance, you can’t… erase the bad from something without erasing the good. Like it or not, the Garrison- space- is always going to be part of Violet. I’m not going to be the one holding her back.”

She saw him sit at the table and he started writing on the packet. Papa was staring at him with a weird look on his face. “If you want to keep her close, you can’t shut down her dreams,” Daddy said, leaving the pen on the table. “I’m taking a shower.”

Violet pulled away from the door as he got up and started for the hallway. When she heard a door click, she peeked back out and saw her papa shaking his head and stuffing the packet into a drawer before slamming it shut.

She sighed and shut the door. When she turned to look at her brothers, they were stuffing her Balmeran plushies into their mouths. “Aw, come on, guys,” she whined.

\---

After the talk about the Garrison, Violet had noticed an increase in the arguments. She wondered if she’d set off their troubles again just because she brought up the application.

It had been a long time since she’d felt this way. She didn’t like going home because there was always something they were disagreeing about. The phrase, “Go to your room and take your brothers” was getting old, and yet each time she had to do it, she could hear the snapping, the curses, the overlapping shouting.

And they still hadn’t given her the application for the Garrison.

“Are you okay?” Giselle asked as they went to their last class. “You’ve been really quiet all week.”

“My dads are fighting again.”

“Like….” Giselle pantomimed punching.

“No. No, not _fighting_ fighting. Just… yelling a bunch. They use the furniture for sound effects.” Giselle frowned. “Like… they’ll shove a chair or slam a door or hit the wall. It’s like they get so mad they have to take it out on the house.”

“Better than having them hit each other,” Giselle offered. “I’m sorry. I’m sure they’ll be okay though. They’re really cool.”

Violet grumbled and heaved a sigh as she sat down.

Then she overheard one of the boys that sat near her saying, “My mom and dad already turned in the application. They also added a donation for the Garrison if I got in.”

“Isn’t that cheating?” someone asked.

“No,” the boy said. “Because I have the grades. I just don’t have to wait so long to be let in. My parents said I’m gonna be the best pilot there.”

Violet gasped as the mechanical pencil in her hand snapped in half under the pressure of her thumb. Beside her Giselle jumped slightly then quickly offered another pencil.

“Vi, you gotta calm down. Your ears are flat.” Giselle fussed with her hair to help her hide it.

“How come alien girl gets a personal assistant?” the girl beside her said, scrunching her nose at Violet. “Hey Giselle, what’s it like having an alien for a master?”

“Vivian, shut up and get a life,” Giselle said with a roll of her eyes.

“Whatever. Once she disappears to the Garrison and flies off to her home planet maybe you can be _my_ serva-”

Violet felt a growl rip through her throat and she got up shoving the desk back and shoving Vivian’s away until it hit another. “Watch your mouth, Vivian!” Violet snarled.

Vivian stared up at Violet with wide, frightened eyes. The entire class had gone silent. Even Giselle looked a little scared. Before she could get reprimanded by the teacher, Violet ran out of the class and toward the bathrooms. She threw the door open and locked herself in a stall.

It felt like everything was falling apart. Home had been so good, and she really thought it would stay that way. It just seemed worse than ever now. Ever since Sergeant Bloom came to give her hopes about the Garrison, regular school just seemed that much worse. She felt like more a freak every day.

It was like she didn’t fit in at home or at school.

Eventually, the teacher went into the bathroom and found her, gently coaxing her out by assuring her she wouldn’t get in trouble. When Violet opened the stall door, her teacher smiled at her gently and knelt down. “Hey, kiddo. Everything okay? You’ve never gotten that upset before.” Violet shrugged. “Well, hey. It didn’t get physical so there’s no write-up, okay? It’s the end of the day. Go home and have a good weekend and when Monday comes, it’ll be like this never happened.”

“Okay,” Violet mumbled. She got out and let her teacher walk her over to the bus ramp. As she waited for all the buses to pull up before looking for hers, she felt someone shove her forward.

“I’m not scared of you just because you’ve got vampire teeth, freak!” Violet toppled forward and tasted something warm and metallic in her mouth as her jaw bounced up from the sidewalk. She felt someone tug at her hair she shrieked.

She turned around to see Vivian getting ready to kick her face. But Violet felt her training instincts kick in and she caught Vivian’s foot. She twisted, succeeding in getting her hair freed. Then she tackled Vivian down. She heard other students screaming and reacting, falling back to the wall.

Violet landed one good punch before she got yanked off. “Principal’s office, now!” she heard. Violet growled and hissed at Vivian who was crying and being held back by the gym teacher.

\--

Vivian was on one side of the office. Violet sat on the other, her knees up to her chin.

Papa was in the office with Oliver and Charlie in their joint stroller. Vivian’s parents were in there too. She knew she’d done something bad, but was she supposed to let Vivian beat her up? She was tired of letting the insults happen. Tired of dealing with people who loved making her feel like a freak.

Papa walked out, looking angry and casting a glare at Vivian’s parents. He stood in front of Violet and lifted her chin. “How’s you mouth _mi_ _niña?_ You have a nasty bruise on you chin.”

“I’m fine,” she mumbled. “I just wanna go home.” He sighed and nodded, gesturing for her to start walking. It wasn’t until they started driving out of the school that he looked at her through the rearview and shook his head.

“Why’d you start the fight?” he asked. She stayed quiet. “You said the bullying lessened. And if it hasn’t, you’ve been dealing with it without starting fights long enough now, that this doesn’t make any sense.” More silence. “I told Daddy. He said we’ll talk to you when he gets home.”

“Then talk to me when he gets home,” she muttered.

“ _Violet.”_ She rolled her eyes and curled further into himself.

“Three other classmates sent in applications.”

“Not this again, Violet. I told you I’ll think about it. But this behavior isn’t helpi-”

“ _This behavior_ happened just today and it wouldn’t have if people didn’t make fun of me and my friend. And you know where they wouldn’t? At the Garrison!”

“You’re so grounded, young lady.” Violet rolled her eyes and huffed.

She felt a tiny hand patting her shoulder. “Vi-et _le-le._ Ooh, ow!” Oliver said, patting his own chin and wincing. “Vi-et ow!”

“I’m okay,” she promised, kissing his cheek. “Wanna kiss it better?” Ollie nodded and leaned forward, placing a slobbery kiss on her chin.

“Vi-et! Vi-et, mwah!” Charlie demanded, straining against his buckles. Violet reach over and chuckled as Charlie kissed her too.

When they got home, Violet watched Papa lock away her training items and her radio. No video games, no TV, and an earlier bedtime for a week. It was worse when Dad came home. She hated seeing him disappointed.

They both sat her down on the couch and Violet let them lecture her. They went on about how they taught her to fight for a war, not to use it against a classmate, then that she shouldn’t have lost her temper the way she had, then they started talking about her _attitude._

“Are you listening, Violet?” Daddy asked. Violet nodded mutely, staring at the table. “Sweetheart, the last thing we want to do is get angry with you or ground you. And I know you were defending yourself. But you went from defending yourself to attacking.”

“And the talking back needs to stop,” Papa said. “How are we supposed to trust you to go to the Garrison if you’re misbehaving in a normal school?”

“Daddy used to get in fights too.”

“Because I didn’t have parents to teach me or help me,” Daddy snapped. “You have us, and we didn’t raise you-”

“Sure you did,” she spat. “All you two ever do is yell and throw things. I just actually hit her.” She got up and went to her room, slamming the door before she collapsed to the floor and started crying. Then just like clockwork, she could hear the raising voices in the living room.

She heard her brothers calling her name at her door and she opened it to let them in as the arguing went on. From her behavior to the Garrison to their own problems. Things Violet had heard before, and things Violet knew she would hear again all weekend long.

She fell asleep with Charlie and Ollie on either side of her on her bed. She woke up when she felt them being taken away to their cribs.

Then her fathers returned to her room. Part of her expected to get an apology for their behavior. Instead, Papa said, “I signed the papers for the Garrison. But after the way you’ve been behaving and the way you’ve been talking to us, it showed us that you might not be ready for the Garrison. You can apply next year when you’re of age.”

“What? But, Papa-!”

“Violet, you split open a girl’s lip. You’ve been acting up with us. We’re not only older than you, we’re your parents. You can’t do that and not expect a consequence, munchkin,” Dad said, looking at her in a way that made Violet want to puke. “But we also talked and this was your first fight. And not applying to the Garrison seemed like enough punishment. So tomorrow, you can have your TV privileges back.”

“By Monday, you can have your training things back,” Papa said.

Violet didn’t respond. She knew there was no point. She’d have to endure the rest of the year at her horrible school with horrible people. Her fathers weren’t changing their mind.

It wasn’t like they listened anyway.


End file.
